Rufus and Lily  We're in this together
by Anlgsp
Summary: This Fan Fiction takes place from the ending of Gossip Girl 4x10 episode "Gaslit". This is what I imagined it could have happened after that. Rufus and Lily have to deal with Alison's return and her wanting Jenny's full custody. More surprises.
1. Chapter 1  Alison's back

It was morning. Rufus woke up with Lily in his arms, her back resting against his chest, her fingers wrapped around his left arm. She was sleeping so peacefully. What happen to Serena the day before must have been so exhausting for her. It was such a relieve everything was now okay and Serena decided to stay in Ostroff Center for awhile. Watching Lily sleeping like a baby just melted his heart, there was no such thing as beautiful as watching her in her sleep. He kissed her on the head and hugged her from behind trying not to wake her up. It was in those moments that Rufus used to realize how much Lily meant to him, she was his whole life. A couple of minutes later Rufus felt Lily moving and turning around to look at him. "Morning" She mumbled still trying to wake herself up. "Morning beautiful" He said kissing her softly on her lips. They locked eyes and he grinned at her. "What?" She asked.

"Nothing, I was just reminding myself how lucky I am to hold you every night in my arms and to wake up to such a beautiful view." He kissed her once again.

"I love you Rufus, you know that right?" She said breaking the kiss.

"I love you too Lil, always have, always will". She kissed him fiercely and in less than a second he was on top of her. Her hands moving slowly upon his chest, his hands taking off her negligee. Lily moaned as Rufus started to kiss her neck moving down to the breast area. Her leg wrapped around his waist, their tongues tangled. Lily pushed him back, getting up and holding her body against his with her legs crossed around his waist. Her hands slowly moved to the waistband of his boxers and pushed them down over his hips. With the passing of every second Rufus was getting more aroused. Rufus leaned his hand down into her underwear and started stroking her. Lily moaned as she felt his fingers inside of her. He got her on her knees and pushed her panties down, then Lily lifted her hips to help him and finally tossed them off on the floor. Rufus put his hands on her hips and picked her up holding her tightly to his body while softly entering her. They both groaned at the very same time. She brought her lips to his left earlobe and whispered "Damn you Rufus Humphrey. You are too good to me!" Then she kissed him passionately as his hands were moving slowly on her breasts. Her eyes rolled back while her fingers were tangled in his hair. He lifted his wife up pulling her almost all the way off of him and then pushed her up hard again. "Oh my God!" Lily moaned loudly. "Oh Baby you are just…." Rufus cut himself off with a moan. He picked up the pace, his mouth moving back to her breasts and he kissed and sucked at them. Lily started to kiss his neck and then went down to his chest, as He was pushing his hips harder against her. Lily took Rufus face in her hands and they locked eyes for a couple of seconds "I love you" He said before kissing her hard again. "No, I love YOU!" Lily moaned against his lips. He kissed her neck and tangled his hands through her hair pushing her head back up to kiss her lips hungrily. She lifted up her hips before pushing back down on him hard. "Lil I…" "So am I" She interrupted him before wrapping her arms around his neck and biting his bottom lip. "Oh baby…God…Lily!" Rufus cried as he reached his peak. Lily moaned loudly "Oh Rufus!" as she felt a wave of pleasure rush throughout her body and up her spine. She rested her forehead against his, both trying to catch a breath. Rufus was still into her. "God Rufus, this is like the best good morning I've ever had." She said breathless.

"Gosh Lil, you are just a dream come true every single time. I don't think I could ever have enough of you." He said pulling her closer to him to kiss her on her neck.

"I pray God you will never have enough of me. That would drive me crazy!" Then she kissed him fiercely. "Lil…" Rufus broke the kiss. "I think we should just get off the bed and start our day or I'm gonna want to stay here for the rest of the day." Then he put her down and laid down next to her.

"Well I guess we should talk about it because I really feel like doing nothing today but staying in here with the sexiest man alive." She said biting her lip.

"Please don't!" He cried while she moved her right hand down his chest to his most intimate region and started to stroke him. "Oh God….Lily why are you doing this to me? This will lead to no good!" He said between a moan and another.

"That's what I hope." Then she went down the sheets and started to pleasure him with her mouth. It only took a couple of minutes for Rufus to take control of the situation "Ok, enough!" He cried. Then he took Lily into his arms, lifted her up and laid her down onto the bed getting on top of her. "You didn't behave well Mrs. Humphrey….so I think now it's time for your punishment." Rufus immobilized her arms with his hands. Lily laughed and said "I can't wait anymore for it….give it to me Rufus!". And their lovemaking started all over again. Passion filled the air on that December morning.

As they went downstairs holding each other's hands they heard the elevator opening. Rufus turned around hoping to see Dan showing up from behind the corner, but instead of him someone unexpected appeared. "Alison?" He asked in surprise as his ex wife made her entrance.

"Hello Rufus." She said, her tone as cold as ice.

At the sound of her voice Lily stopped and turned around to be sure she wasn't having some kind of nightmare. "Good Morning Alison. Good to see you" She lied putting a smile on her face.

"Sorry I can't say the same about you Lillian." She sneered. "I need to talk to you Rufus….alone." Alison said looking right into her ex husband's eyes.

"Well Alison there's nothing you can say that Lily can't listen to. So please have a seat, I'll get you some coffee." He said firmly.

"Please, don't bother. It won't take long. I'm here to talk about Jenny." She replied.

"What? Is she okay? Didn't she come home last night?" Rufus asked worried.

"No, she came back home. The question is she's not okay Rufus. Every time she comes visit you in Manhattan she comes back as a mess home. I can't take this anymore. I want full custody of Jenny. I'm sick and tired of putting her pieces back together."

Rufus was in a total shock, he couldn't believe what Alison was saying to him. The only thing he wanted to do was yell at her about what kind of mother she has been to Dan and Jenny in the last couple of years, but It didn't want to make things worse. "What?" Lily asked in shock, getting closer to Alison.

"This is none of your business. You just stay out of it. It's between Rufus and me, Lillian". Alison snapped her voice turning a higher pitch.

"This is unbelievable! You gotta be kidding. I cannot even think about what you just said. Did you lose your mind on the way to NYC? How on Earth can you ever ask something like this of him? Don't you know how much Jennifer means to him? To us?". She said without taking a breath.

"I said: STAY OUT OF IT. I mean it." Alison yelled at her.

"Don't you dare yell at my wife's face!" Rufus warned her. "You have no right to show up here, telling me you want full custody of my own daughter just because she has made some mistakes for which, by the way, I'm not responsible for. I took care of her, I did the best I could, but Jenny is at a particular time of her life and she has to go through it on her own. Neither I or you can help her right now. She only needs to focus a little bit on herself, on her own life, not caring about other's lives And she needs to GROW UP!" Rufus said with anger.

Alison crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you really think you're not responsible for how miserable she feels every single time she comes back here Rufus? I'm fed up. I want full custody of my daughter, I want to take care of her since her father failed so badly."

"Alison I cannot believe this! I failed? I was here at the very least, where the hell where you? You have only seen your kids on holydays in the last 3 years!" He yelled this time. Lily took his hand into hers, stroking it softly.

"You did not take care of our daughter as you should have. You were too much involved into your brand new life to see Jenny needed some help. And when you finally realized that what did you do? You sent her over to me. You messed up and I had to help her taking her life back. Why should I let you destroy everything we have reached in the last few months allowing you to have her here? This is insane! Look at you! You became an upper east sider, aren't you ashamed of yourself? You've changed…completely! Now I see why you couldn't understand what Jenny was going through." She shook her head.

"You have no right to speak to me like that. What I do in my life has nothing to do with you anymore. I care about what my children think of their father and they are happy with how things are in our life. You know why? Because I'm happy Alison, happy as I have never been in my entire life since I married Lily. They see that and they are happy for me. This whole change we faced, was an improvement to our lives. They know that. Besides I don't need to give you any explanation about my lifestyle anymore." He said putting his arm around Lily's waist.

"I don't know what this woman did to you" she pointed Lily "But I swear she'll never do the same to my daughter. When you two decided to get married Jenny's life has changed in a blink of an eye. She wasn't ready for such a change. She's still a kid Rufus! She wasn't able to move out of Brooklyn and fit perfectly in this new habitat. She needed some getting used to it and you two gave her no chance to do that. She brought Jenny into a world she has never been a part of and never will. My daughter is not Serena, Lillian, she will never ever live her life the way you daughter does. She deserves better than a bed to warm up for someone different every night."

"Take it back Alison! You have no idea what you're talking about." Lily threatened her.

"Too far Alison, too far. Lily and most of all Serena have nothing to do with all the troubles Jenny got herself trapped into. Lily has always been like a mother to her and Serena always had her back until they fought before last summer. You don't really know anything about your daughter's life in the past 3 years, do you? I wanna talk to Jenny, I want to know if she agrees with you. Until then I have nothing more to say to you. My wife and I would love to have breakfast. You know the way to the elevator. Have a good day!". He said turning his back on her and grabbing Lily's hand to guide her to the counter.

"Your wife is destroying you and the family we once shared! She's turning you into some faded version of her ex husbands. Don't you see it? Where is the Rufus I used to know? Where is the father I used to know?" Alison screamed.

"Enough Alison. I won't stand in front of you giving you reasons I don't think you should receive." He said turning his head around, not leaving Lily's hand for a moment. "I always tried my best to take care of my children and to make them happy. That's all you need to know. I made some mistakes probably, but I was always there for them every single day and so was Lily. We are a family and we take care of each other. Dan and Jenny have always been protected, supported and loved into this house. Now just leave please, you said what you wanted, and If I might add, even more that you needed." He clenched Lily's hand even harder.

"I'm going to ask for Jenny's full custody. There's just nothing you can do to stop me." Alison said, having more than gotten her point across.

"We'll see". Rufus replied with fire in his eyes.

"Alison don't please. Rufus is gonna win over you for sure, think about it. You might not be able to see your daughter so easily anymore. Don't do this to her, please." Lily begged, getting closer to Alison.

"I only have her best interest at heart. You're never ever going to play the mommy for my own daughter Lillian. I can assure you this. It's enough you took my husband away from me." She shouted back.

"Oh please Alison! This is such a lie! You cheated on him, remember that? I didn't steal Rufus from you, you were already separated when we rekindled our relationship. I was not in the picture then, I wasn't even in his life." She said almost laughing.

"You have never ever stopped being in his life." Alison turned her attention back to Rufus. " Do I really need to recall you that time you were making love to me and moaned her name Rufus? Or that other time when we moved to the loft and all you cared about was hanging on the walls all the picture she took of you?" She turned her attention back to Lily. "Not to mention the look on his face when the kids used to ask him to play 'Every time'. It wasn't easy to always feel second to someone else in your husband's heart. It was destroying me and our marriage wasn't working out anymore." She looked into Rufus eyes this time. "Can you really blame me for cheating when you cheated on me for 20years in your heart?" She cried.

"I didn't sleep with Lily once though. You slept with Alex. And just for the record I was in love with her, you just had a couple of nights of meaningless sex with him." Rufus was furious now.

"Yeah….at least he did moaned my own name when we were having sex, not someone else's." She screamed without thinking about it twice.

"Alison this has really nothing to do with Jenny and how much Rufus loves her. The two of you should just talk things out, no lawyers, no trials. It's for Jenny's own good." Lily stated.

"I know what I'm doing and for the last time: STAY OUT OF IT! Like you haven't already done enough!" She yelled at her. "Have a good day Rufus!" With that, She turned her back and left.

As she walked out Lily hugged Rufus, laying her head on his shoulder. "I cannot believe this." She whispered. Rufus hugged her back, pushing her as close as he could to his body. "Me neither." Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently. "We're in this together babe…We are not going to lose Jenny to her, that's a promise."

Rufus kissed her back "I know we won't. She's my daughter….our daughter and nothing is gonna take that from me."

She smiled looking into his eyes. "Maybe you should talk to Jenny first. I'll call my lawyer in the mean time just to be informed about what should we do in case Alison doesn't give up on this absurd idea." He kissed her with passion and told her "I love you Lil and I'm sorry for what you had to hear from her. She's so jealous of you my love!"

Lily grinned and said "I know…..well I cannot blame her. I have you, you are my husband and she lost you. I just don't want this to interfere with your parenthood." She sighed.

"I know and I hope it won't. Anyway I wasn't the greatest husband in the world as you heard. Now I see why our marriage didn't work out. I've always thought it was all her fault, but I have to admit she is right." They locked eyes and she kissed him fiercely.

"Rufus, as much as I'm flattered about this whole 'you thinking about me during your marriage' thing, it has nothing to do with Dan and Jenny. You were a caring father, that's all the judge will ask about. Who wasn't with her own children for almost 3 years is Alison."

"I know, I know." He said looking down.

"Hey…" She whispered lifting his face up with her hand gently. "Don't let her do this to you, don't feel guilty or sorry for something happened years and years ago. The only thing that matters is Jenny right now. We'll take care of this situation one step at a time….together!"

"You know what? I could have made some mistakes in the past with Alison, but they took me here, into your arms and It was all worth it." They kissed passionately.


	2. Chapter 2  Alison is the past

After a couple of hours Lily came back home, Rufus was speaking on the phone. Lily kissed him on the cheek and went to her desk to put down some of the documents she was holding. "Ok, son. Thank you. I'll call you later." Rufus hung up the phone.

"Was it Dan?" Lily asked while putting the files in order.

"Yep." Rufus said wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

"How did he take it? Did he talk to Alison? Was he aware of it?" She asked caressing Rufus arm.

"No, it was a total shock to him. I asked him not to get into it though, one kid stuck in this awful situation is enough to me." He kissed her neck tenderly.

"Yeah, you're right. Did Jenny answer any of your phone calls or texts?" She said turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"No, I guess the next step is going to Hudson. I need to talk to her."

"You should go Rufus. I don't know if It's a good idea for me to come with you, but If you need me to I will." She grinned at him.

"No, don't worry. This is between my daughter and I. We really need to talk, heart to heart." He kissed her on the cheek.

"Yes, then what are you waiting for? Go there and talk to her. " She kissed him on the lips. Rufus deepened the kiss and after a couple of minutes of hard making out he said "Ok…Fine. But this conversation is not over Mrs. Humphrey."

"I'll wait for you in the bedroom to finish it properly." She smirked and kissed him one more time.

"Lil…." He moaned.

"What?" she smiled.

"Nothing….It's just that I don't know what I'd do without you. I do not feel sorry at all for whispering your name while I was making love to Alison. It's always been you in my mind, in my heart, it's always been you." He kissed her softly and moaned "I love you Lil."

"And I love you my love, there's nothing in the world I love most. You're the only one for me and you have always been." They kissed again. Then Rufus broke the kiss and went towards the elevator "I don't know when I'll be back. I'll call as soon as I get to talk to Jenny. Okay?" He said putting on his coat.

"Yes, darling. I'll be here waiting. Take Jenny home Rufus, this is where she belongs. And tell her I miss her and I love her." She sighed.

"I will. Talk to you later. Bye" He disappeared into the elevator.

It was almost dinner time. Eric just entered the living room, Lily was setting the table up for dinner. She smiled as she saw her son. He went give her a hug. "Is Rufus home yet?" He asked with his arms still wrapped around his mother shoulders. "No honey, he's on his way home though." She kissed him on the cheek.

"This whole situation is ridiculous, you know that, right?" He said sitting down on a chair.

"Eric, listen, you don't have to get involved. I know you care about Jenny and you consider her your sister, but We really don't want you to fight with her over this. I bet this is not Jenny, it's all her mother."

"Then why didn't she answer any of my texts, emails or phone calls? I tried everything, but I got nothing in response. I don't know mom, it looks like she wants this as much as her mother does." He said moving his fingers around the boarder of one of the plates Lily had just placed on the table.

"Just don't jump to conclusions. I'm sure Rufus will explain everything to us." She stroked his cheek.

"Mom I can see you are sad. It's written all over your face, yesterday Serena and now Jenny. None of this is your fault mom, these girls are just the craziest I'll ever meet in my whole life." He laughed. "And Alison is only trying to get revenge, but she won't get anything. Rufus loves you too much."

"Yeah, I know. But kids come first. We are parents before being husband and wife." Lily had pretty teary eyes while talking. "But It's ok, I hope this won't separate us." She tried to fake a smile.

"Mom please! He loves you to death!" He said taking her hand into his hands. "He will never ever put you in second place, not even for his children. Alison won't take Rufus away from you and neither will Jenny. She already tried once and she failed horribly!" He grinned. "Come here." He said getting up and giving her a hug.

"Oh Eric, thank God there's a normal kid in this crazy family!" She laughed.

"I love you mom and I love Rufus. He's like a father to me. Actually It's the first time in my life I feel like I truly have a dad." Eric pulled away to look into his mother's eyes.

She kissed him on his temple. "I know honey, I know how comfortable it does feel to have Rufus in your life."

The elevator opened and Jenny and Rufus appeared. As Eric noticed his best friend he ran to her and hugged her. "Thank God you are here!" He cried. Jenny hugged him back then looked at Lily and with tears in her eyes said "I'm so sorry Lily. I don't know why my mother is doing this to me, to us. I'm so so sorry!". Lily walked towards her and hold her into her arms just like a mother holds her baby. "I love you Jenny, welcome back home." Jenny burst into tears and leaned her head on Lily's shoulder. Rufus and Eric were starting to get emotional at the scene. "I'm so happy!" Eric cried joining Lily, Rufus and Jenny in a big family hug.

They had dinner all together and enjoyed the rest of the evening as if nothing ever happened that day. Then Eric and Jenny went into Eric's room to watch a movie like the old times, leaving Rufus and Lily alone in the kitchen. "Oh my God! I can't wait for this day to be over." Rufus shouted and then grinned at Lily. "You gotta be exhausted my love". Lily said leaning down to kiss him.

"Not that much, I mean I have enough energy to finish that particular conversation" He smirked at her grabbing her arm to make her sit on his lap. "I had no doubt about that." She smirked back. "But tell me first how did things go with Alison? Does she know Jenny is here? What did the two of you talk about when you got there?" Lily brushed some hair from his face.

"Well, first of all Jenny had no idea Alison was trying to get full custody of her. When I got there I explained what happened this morning and she started crying saying she would have never wanted this to happen. Then we talk about what to do with Alison to stop her and she said she would have talked to her sooner or later, but right now staying in Hudson was too much for her. So I suggested that she come back home with me. In the first place she was hesitant, but I insisted. She called her mother and told her she was coming to NYC and that at least for now her staying here would have been longer than in the recent past." He explained.

"And did Alison agree?" Lily asked with concern.

"I don't know. All I cared about was taking Jenny back home. That was it." Rufus said looking right into her eyes.

"I truly hope she doesn't get it too bad. Maybe you should have talked to her before taking her back here." She leaned her forehead against his.

"I don't give a damn about what she thinks. Jenny wanted to come back, so I brought her back. Alison can say or do whatever she wants." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Rufus It's not that easy and you know that. I only hope she doesn't use this against you in law court. That's all I'm worried about." She sobbed.

"Our lawyer is a badass Lil and Jenny is on our side. There's nothing we need more to win this battle."

"Yeah…I guess you're right." She kissed him softly. "You know what? I was talking to Eric earlier and he was so happy about your relationship, he said for the first time in his life he feels like he really does have a dad. His words brought tears to my eyes. I'm so lucky to have you as my husband and so happy to have you as my kids paternal figure." She pushed him closer to her body and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, smelling his scent from his neck.

"He's such a sweet kid Lily. He reminds me a lot of Dan at his age. He's lovely….just like his mother. Only less sexy than her." He smirked and picked her up into his arms while getting up. "What are you doing?" She cried.

"I'm going to take you where you should be all day long….in our bed. I'm sorry Lil, there's no way you can escape it." He smirked.

"Who said I want to? I could live locked in that room for the rest of my life without any regret." She kissed him passionately as he was bringing her up to the stairways.

As they entered the room Rufus phone started to ring. They kept on kissing passionately, without caring about it. Rufus put her down and pushed her on the bed getting on top of her and starting to undress her. "I hate winter….it takes me a lifetime to undress you since you have all these clothes on" He whispered to her ear. Lily laughed and started to unzip Rufus jeans. The phone rang again, Rufus stopped kissing his wife and took the telephone out of his task. "Please don't answer." Lily begged him while wrapping her arms around his neck to try to get him closer. "Let me just see who's calling." He said giving a look at the cell phone in his hands. "Damn it!" He cried.

"Who is it?" Lily asked annoyed.

"It's Alison" Then he immediately answered the phone leaving Lily almost naked alone on the bed. "Hello?"

Lily was so disappointed Rufus interrupted that moment, but she was pretty reasonable when it came to situations involving their kids, even If Rufus's ex wife was at the other end of the phone. Rufus was yelling and furious while speaking over the phone. Lily decided to give him some privacy and sneaked into the bathroom to take a bath since she needed to relax somehow now that Rufus was busy doing something else than accomplishing her desire. After 20min more or less Rufus entered the room, Lily was still in the bathtub. "I'm sorry honey, I needed to answer it."

"Yeah…" She said unselfishly.

"Lil…I'm sorry. Alison is driving me crazy! She yelled at me over the phone. She's really trying to take Jenny away from me. Soon I'll receive a call from her attorney she said. I cannot believe this. My ex wife trying to take my own daughter away from me. This is unreal!" He said starting to take his clothes off.

"As I told you this morning you have just nothing to worry about. Jenny will stay with us. Plus she's already 17, in less than a year she will be 18 years old and fully aged." She tried to smile at him.

"I don't know why she's doing it to me, but she's going to pay for it. I swear to God Alison is going to be destroyed at the end of this battle." Rufus said with anger while tossing his shirt on the floor.

Lily shook her head and got up, letting herself out of the tub. "Where are you going?" Rufus said stopping her by grabbing her left arm.

"Well, what do you think? I'm going to get dried up." Lily knew what her husband was getting at.

"Not so fast." Rufus said taking his jeans and his socks off using only one hand.

"I'm not in the mood right now Rufus, I mean it. Let me just get a towel to dry myself please." She said wriggling her arm.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Rufus cupped her face with his hands.

"I just don't want to have sex with you right now, okay?" Lily looked away.

"Wait….wait. I thought that's what we were going to do before that call." Rufus said stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"Exactly, BEFORE that call" Lily cried with nuisance.

"Are you really mad at me because I answered the phone?" He was about to laugh, but wisely went for a smile instead of a laughter right in her face.

"Yes, Yes I am. You couldn't have chosen a worst moment to answer to your ex wife's phone call Rufus." Lily fulminated him with a look.

"Oh Lily please! I had to! I didn't answered the first time she called, I thought it was urgent. Come on…It's not that I didn't want to make love to you. In fact I'm asking you to make love to me right here, right now." He smirked.

"I just don't feel like doing it. Ok?" She said wrapping a towel around her body and leaving the room.

Rufus took a cold shower and then went to bed, where Lily was reading a book. He laid down next to her and kissed her softly on her shoulder. "I don't like it when you are mad at me. Especially when this involves me not having my wife for myself as I'd like to." Lily didn't say a word. "Lily please! What should I do to make it up to you? I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings somehow. I didn't mean to." Lily's eyes were on the book, she didn't even turn her face to look at her husband. "Can we please talk at least? Lily come on!" He said throwing away the book she was reading. "Rufus!" Lily screamed.

"What Lily?" He said getting up on his knees in front of her.

"That was rude! I have no intentions to do anything with you tonight. Not talking, not having sex. So goodnight Rufus." She said turning off the light on her bedside table and facing her back to Rufus when she lied back on the bed again.

Rufus stared at her in the dark silently for a couple of minutes, just enough time to gather enough anger. The former rocker grabbed Lily's shoulders and turned her on her back, he looked into her eyes and said "I'm not asking you to have sex with me, I am asking you to make love to me because I need you more than anything. I need to feel you want me as much as I do, I need to rest myself into you tonight because that's the place where I feel more comfortable in the entire world. I'm not asking you to have sex with me, I'm not asking you to give me what my ex wife used to. I'm asking you to give me more, to give me yourself with all your heart, I'm asking you to make me feel the way I've been feeling in the last year and a half Lily." He sounded angry in the first place but his tone converted into a begging one as he was talking.

They locked eyes and Lily threw herself at him kissing him hungrily. "Say it Rufu!" She moaned between kisses. " Say you want me more than any other woman you've ever had." They locked eyes.

"I want you Lily. More than any other woman I've ever had. You…That's all I'm asking for." He leaned to kiss her again.

"Say you never enjoyed having sex with Alison like you do with me." She pushed him back never stopping looking into his beautiful eyes.

Rufus looked his wife into her eyes back. Lily started crying like a baby. "Lil….why are you acting like this?" He asked wiping a tear away from her cheek.

"Because she blamed me for the end of your marriage, but I blame myself for letting that marriage be celebrated. She had you for 20 years of her life. I didn't." She sobbed.

"What I share with you is way much more than what I've ever shared with…her." He reassured her.

"You have 2 children with her. I gave our son up for adoption instead." Lily turned her face to the left to avoid eyes contact with him.

"Lily….you mean the world to me. Alison is the past." He moved her face with his finger to look her into her eyes. "I said your name while having sex with her Lily! That means I've never stopped loving you, you were always in my mind. I pictured you in my head while I was holding her in my arms Lily. You are the woman of my dreams. My life would be meaningless without you. You are the reason why I get up in the morning. Please forgive me if I made you feel like I didn't want you tonight. I love you. You hear me?" All of a sudden Rufus felt guilty for letting Lily feel so insecure about their relationship.

"Yes." She sobbed wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"With you It's not just sex. It's love….pure and passionate love baby. I thank God everyday for making me waking up next to you. I love you Lil, I love everything about you." He kissed Lily on her forehead.

She took his face in her hands looked into his eyes and whispered "Then you better prepare yourself cause you're not going to stay out of my body tonight, not even for a second. You are mine Rufus Humphrey, I own you." She said kissing him with more passion that she had ever experienced.

"I love you!" He broke the kiss and started to explore her mouth again.

"And I love you baby" She answered while taking her negligee off.

They had sex all night long. Rufus was so happy his telephone rang up that night. Lily was on fire, she was so jealous of Alison having him for herself for almost 20 years that she wanted to claw back all the time they wasted with other partners. The morning after Rufus woke up with Lily literally sleeping on him. Her arms wrapped around his chest, her legs entwined with his own, her head resting on his left shoulder. Lily's hair smelled so good, he kissed her on the top of her head and whispered to her ear "Did you think I was going to leave you tonight? You literally slept on me."

"I told you I wouldn't have let you get out of me for anything in the world." She smiled reaching for his hand under the sheets and placing it on her back.

Rufus laughed and hold her tight to his chest. Lily turned her face around and looked up at him. The two started kissing in less than a second. "I gotta say I feel satisfied." Lily moaned to his lips. "Sometimes I think you have superpowers." She smirked.

"Yeah….I do too." They both laughed. "Good morning ray of sunshine" Rufus whispered in her ear.

"Good morning love of my life." She replied and then kissed him softly.

Later that day Lily called her lawyer and asked him to set a meeting for that day. Lily and Rufus asked him to resolve the whole situation without going to court. They didn't want Jenny to get too much involved, that was the reason why they were asking him to keep things low-key. The lawyer explained to them Alison already made her move, so they really had nothing to do but to go to court. Lily and Rufus were sad and disappointed at the same time to find out Alison really crossed the line. After saying their farewells and thanking the lawyer Rufus and Lily laid on the couch almost speechless. They looked at each other. Lily wanted to comfort him, but didn't know what to say, even though she wanted so bad to say a few words about Alison, but it didn't seem the case to her. "So I guess that's it." Rufus sighed.

"Rufus we can try to talk to Alison one more time. Maybe with our lawyers so that she wouldn't feel uncomfortable." Lily proposed.

"I appreciate your efforts Lil, but this time there's really nothing more to do. I already tried to talk to her. She's stubborn. And I am sick and tired to try to make up some explanation for her behavior. She is damaging our family, my daughter. That's it. I'm not going to allow her to cause us any other trouble." Rufus said while looking out of the window.

"I know." Lily sad grabbing his shoulders.

"Thank you Lily. I really appreciate your support, but now I really need to stay alone for awhile. Would you mind?" He said stroking his wife's hand.

"Sure, I'll be upstairs if you need anything." She kissed him gently on the cheek.

Rufus smiled. It was so good to know Lily was there for him.


	3. Chapter 3  Alison crosses the line

_I wanted to thank Rashmika, a dear friend of mine, for helping me out with the correcting process. Love you Rash, so much!_

While Lily was taking the stairs the elevator opened and Dan ran in very convulsed. "Dad!" He cried trying to catch a breath."Dan, what's wrong?" Rufus stood up immediately.

"Jenny. Mom took her to Hudson against her will. I just received a text from her, we were supposed to meet at the loft for lunch, but she never got there." Dan took a deep breath after saying what happened earlier.

Lily ran back to the living room after hearing what Dan just took out of his mouth.

"What are you talking about Dan? Are you trying to tell me Alison kidnapped your sister?" Rufus couldn't even believe he had to have put the words 'Alison' and 'kidnap' in the same sentence.

"No! No…I mean no she would never do something like this, would she?" Dan said with concern.

"Of course not! There's got to be an explanation, I'm going to call her right now. Did Jenny say anything else to you in that text?" Rufus asked while searching for Alison number on his cell phone directory.

"No, she said she was on the train to Hudson and that mom forced her to go. I tried to call her, but her phone is off. I tried to call mom then but she didn't answer any of my calls." Dan sighed.

"God this is unreal! Alison is literally pushing me over the edge." Rufus almost screamed.

"Rufus please, calm down. Let's think about what to do, calling her is not going to help as Dan proved you. I think calling our lawyer is the only option we have." Lily brought herself closer to Rufus and stroked his arm.

"There's no way I'm gonna stay here waiting for other people to solve this thing. I've had enough. I'm going to Hudson and I swear to God Alison is never going to see Jenny again if she keeps acting like this." Rufus was quite upset and started walking in circles around the living room.

"Rufus, please! What do you think you'll get by going there? This will never end until a judge will pronounce himself. Why are you so stubborn?" Lily sighed. Her only wish was to make Rufus see there was really nothing they could do, but start a trial and let the judge decide.

"Because my daughter doesn't want to stay with her, she wants to stay with me and Alison forced her to follow her to Hudson. Yesterday I didn't force Jenny to come back with me, she asked me to." Rufus yelled, his hands shaking. "Besides I made her call Alison to make sure she knew where Jenny was." He

tried to calm himself and sat down on the couch.

"I know, but there's no way the two of you will be able to make up right now. You're both mad at each other." Lily stated looking at him.

"Lily are you listening to me? I'm going over there and end this thing once and for all." Rufus stood up again and went towards the closet to grab his coat.

"Dad I'm sorry but this time Lily's right. There's nothing we can do, except talk to a lawyer. Mom crossed the line." Dan said gripping his father's arm to stop him.

"That's why I'm going to Hudson." Rufus said wriggling his arm. He threw tons of jackets and coats out the closet before finding the one he was looking for. Lily and Dan stared at him without saying a word while he was frantically trying to find his coat.

"Rufus that's enough." Lily said annoyed. " What are you going to do once you get there? Hit her and take Jenny with you? Come on! Words are useless with that woman right now. We have to wait and hope the trial will start as soon as possible." Lily said getting close to Rufus leaning her arm to stroke his cheek.

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime Lily?" He said taking a step back to avoid her touch. "Come on miss 'I know how to handle every single situation', answer me!" Lily was speechless. It seemed like Rufus eyes were coming out of their orbits. "You tell me!" He walked over to her and yelled right

to her face.

Lily was shocked. She couldn't believe Rufus bawled like that against her. Her mouth dropped open, but no words came out. Rufus totally took her breath away with his attitude and not in a good way. They locked eyes for a moment than He turned his back to her and tried to call Alison with his cell phone. Lily didn't move. She felt so embarrassed for the way Rufus treated her in front of his son. She blushed a little and then headed to the closet taking out of all the mess Rufus previously made, her coat and bag. Then she left the apartment.

As soon as he heard the elevator's door closing Rufus turned around and realized his wife had just left. Dan looked at his dad and shook his head. Rufus didn't know what to say, he acted like a perfect jerk to Lily. He just reserved to her the treatment Alison should have had. Rufus began walking back and forth in his living room trying to focus on what to do first: apologizing to Lily or taking care of Jenny's situation?

Dan stood still in silence for a while then said "I know how frustrating this can be, but just behave like a

gentleman as you've always done. That's all I wanted to say. Now go do whatever you feel like doing dad. I'm out of here."

"Dan?" Rufus said as soon as his son turned his back on him and went towards the elevator. "Was it as bad as it sounded to me? Did I yell that much?" Rufus was hoping Dan would have answered 'no' to his questions.

"Honestly dad? It was worse than you think. You really embarrassed her. Let me know if Jenny is ok if you talk to her. Bye." Dan left too. He was so disappointed by the way Rufus acted, he never ever saw his father giving this attitude to anybody and Lily was the last one to deserve it.

Rufus felt so ashamed of himself. Why the hell did he yell at Lily like that? He was so angry at Alison he couldn't control himself so he just bowled against Lily without even noticing he brought himself right to Lily's face and yelled at her. He felt like an asshole and decide to call Lily to make it up to her. She was his everything and he couldn't bear the picture in his head of the look on Lily face anymore. Lily didn't answer her phone the first time he called her nor did she answer the next 7 calls. Rufus was getting nervous, He really didn't want Lily to be that upset with him. That night Lily didn't come back home for dinner and neither did Eric who was staying over at Elliot's for the night. He cooked something for Lily and gave Larissa the night free, but Lily never showed up. Rufus had tried to call her at least 10 times in the last hour and he sent her 3 texts with his apology but that didn't work out well either. It was around midnight, Rufus fell asleep on the couch while waiting there for Lily to come back home. He instantly opened his eyes as he heard the elevator opening. It was Lily. Finally. He got up and ran to her holding her in his arms. Lily couldn't move, but she didn't hug him back. "Oh God! You scared me Lil!" Rufus said kissing the top of her head. "Where have you been all day? Why didn't you answer any of my calls? I cooked you dinner if you're hungry babe." He said pulling away.

Lily didn't even look her husband in his eyes and walked toward the stairs dumb. She was still mad at him. Rufus wanted to bury himself. He really screwed up this time. He just had too many things on his mind and didn't know what to take care of first. When he gathered himself up, Rufus went upstairs and knocked on their bedroom door. Lily didn't answer, so Rufus decided to enter the room without her permission. As he walked in he noticed Lily was putting some of her clothes in a very big bag and that gave Rufus a feeling that She was planning to leave him for the night….to say the least. "Lil…" He started saying. "I'm sorry. I have no words to express how sorry I feel. I was so mad at Alison and I just lost control. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You are not responsible of this situation, you only helped me and supported me in

the last few days. I apologize. Please forgive me." He begged.

Lily lifted her head up and looked into Rufus eyes. She tried to say something but she just stayed silent looking at him with disappointment. "I am ashamed of myself. I love you Lily and I was an asshole before. You're the only person in the world I can't stay mad at for a long time. I know you feel the same about me. Let's move on, please?". Those words were heartfelt.

Lily shook her head in disapproval whilst Rufus walked through the room to get closer to her. "Rufus please leave me alone. I'm almost done packing some of my things, then I'll spend the night at the Palace." She zipped the bag."No!" Rufus cried. "There's no way I'm gonna let you go. I wanna talk to you,

I wanna make it up to you tonight."

"There is really nothing you can do tonight. I'm not going to share my bed with someone so rude and disrespectful". Lily looked into his eyes.

Ouch. That hurt Rufus so much! He looked at her while she was putting bathroom stuff in another bag.

"Lily please don't leave me. I was a jerk, I know. Can we talk this out please?". Rufus was imploring her for real.

"Rufus you already apologized. There's nothing more for you to say or do. I'm just gonna spend the night away from you because I need to stay as far as possible from you right now. I'll see you tomorrow." Lily said taking her bag and making her way to the door.

Rufus stopped her by grabbing her arm. Lily turned her face and they locked eyes. Rufus looked so hurt and disappointed at himself, Lily could read it in his eyes. He wrapped his arm around Lily waist and leaned down brushing his lips against hers. Lily moaned as Rufus kissed her and that made Rufus deepen the kiss. She was trying to pull away but Rufus was holding her close, so firmly, she couldn't do anything but give in exploring his mouth. The bag she was holding fell off her hand and Lily wrapped her hands around Rufus chest. No place in the world felt so homey like Rufus' arms. Rufus broke the kiss and picked Lily up. She wrapped her legs around his waist "Rufus I just don't want to" She moaned to his lips. "I'm still mad at you. You acted like a fucking jerk before and in front of Daniel besides." She said while Rufus was lying her

on their queen sized bed.

"I know I was a jerk. I'm sorry Lil. I'm sorry." He said resting his head on her chest.

"You embarrassed me so damn much! Don't you dare do that again Rufus. I mean it. I didn't know this side of you but I really don't like it. So please go back to being the man I fall more in love with everyday." Lily said stroking his cheek.

"God baby you don't even have to say it. I will never ever act like that again. EVER!" He whispered.

"Good." She said wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"I'm very sorry Lil. I love you, I do with all my heart." Rufus' eyes were already telling her that. No words were needed.

"I know that." She kissed his neck.

"I know that? That's all I'm getting?" Rufus said a little hurt.

"What do you want me to say? I'm still furious Rufus. I gave in only because I can't resist you and you know that." Lily was a little embarrassed to admit it.

" Well as much as I'm flattered I would like to put this behind us Lil. I already apologized, If you want me to do anything more you only need to ask." Rufus was astonished. He thought he had already accomplished his mission.

"I'd like you to let me go for the night. I already booked a room at the Palace. Please?" She said trying to get out of his embrace.

Rufus was incredulous she still wanted to spend the night away from him. He thought they were going to make up, but that no longer seemed to be the case. Rufus got off Lily and stood up. Lily felt sorry for being so harsh to him, but she wanted to make him feel miserable about what he did a little longer, even if spending the night apart was the last thing she wanted on Earth.

They looked at each other than Rufus said "Fine. But please let me be the one who leaves. I'll stay at the loft, you can sleep in your own bed." He said turning around.

Lily felt bad, but couldn't help it. Rufus needed to learn his lesson, this time he really crossed the line. "Thank you." She said with a low voice. Rufus took some of his clothes out of the drawer and the closet then left in a hurry. Lily started to feel guilty for making it so hard for her husband, but her pride was stronger than her will to forgive him at the moment. She went to bed as soon as Rufus left. The house was so silent, the room was so empty, the bed was so cold and she knew she started to feel it because Rufus wasn't around. Lily tried to get some sleep, but she got none. It was almost 2 in the morning and she started to get tired of rolling herself back and forth in that bed, which seemed so huge to her that night. She got up and went downstairs to drink some water. As she got to the kitchen she found the table set up, the dinner still on plates. He made her a Bolognese and a bottle of Chianti classico 2004 was on the table as well. An home cooked Italian meal was really what she needed that night and Rufus had such a nice thought by preparing her that fabulous dinner. She turned around and took a look at the house. "What the

hell am I doing?" she asked herself. In no time she changed her clothes and headed out to go bring her husband back home. She acted like a child and all she wanted was to have her Rufus by her side, He needed her further. Alison caused enough trouble in the last few days, parting them at night was not going to be

one of them though. Lily left the house without thinking twice about was she was doing, but she forgot it was almost 3 in the morning. How was she supposed to show up that late at the loft without scaring the crap out of Rufus and Dan? She tried to contact Rufus over the phone then, hoping He wasn't able to sleep

without her just like she couldn't without him. "Lil?" He answered the phone with concern. "Is everything ok?" He asked almost breathless.

"Rufus." She sighed.

"Lily what's going on? It's 3am. What happened?" Rufus said breathing heavily now.

"Open the door." She smiled while standing up behind Rufus loft's door.

Rufus was confused. Was Lily really at the front door of the loft? He ran to the door anxious and opened it. And there she was: able to take his breath away with how beautiful she looked even at 3 in the morning. Lily softly smiled and threw herself at Rufus. He held her as tight as He could resting his head on the top

of hers. Lily wrapped his arms around his neck even tighter and kissed him on his shoulder and neck. "What…" Rufus was interrupted by Lily's sweet kiss. "Does this mean I'm forgiven?" Rufus smirked.

Lily kissed him again, this time fiercely. They broke the kiss to catch some breath looking into each other's

eyes deeply.

"It wasn't so nice of me to basically kick you out of the house tonight." Lily started. "I'm sorry my love. I was so hurt by the way you treated me yesterday I couldn't even think straight. I wanted to punish you somehow. That's it. I'm sorry." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"You don't have to apologize Lil. The one who should apologize is me. You were right not wanting me to spend the night at home with you, I was such an ass!" He hugged her closely.

"That's true, but I had no right to push you away. I mean we need to talk and not escape our problems if we want this marriage to work out well." Lily raised her head to look into his eyes.

"Let's just not make a big deal out of it. Ok? I was frustrated and upset for what Alison did. You had nothing to do with it and I yelled at you for no reason. Really. What you did after that, was the least you could do. I had no right to embarrass you that way in front of Dan." Rufus gently stroked her hair out of her eyes.

"I know, I know. That woman is taking the worst out of you. I'm just sorry we fought over her and her actions already twice in two days. This is annoying. She has no right to interfere in our lives this way." She pouted.

"I couldn't agree more. Alison is out of our lives and has been out of our lives for quite some time now. I won't let her damage my marriage. She is already damaging my family too much." He kissed her temple.

"Our family Rufus." Lily took her husband's face between her hands and looked at him with eyes full of love. "Whatever hurts you and your children hurts me too. You know that. I'm not going to let her do this to you. I'll fight with all my strength with you to take her down." Lily wanted Rufus to feel how much she and her kids believed in their union and how deep their bond was.

"Oh babe!" Rufus kissed her passionately. "I love you" He moaned against her lips.

"And I love you!" She moaned back and after a couple of seconds she broke the kiss. "Wait. Is Jenny ok? Did you talk to her? I totally forgot to ask." She bit her lower lip.

"It's ok. I didn't talk to her, her cell phone is off. I called our lawyer and told him everything. We are going to meet him in the morning." He faked a smile.

"Did he recommended that you do anything in particular?"

"Not really. He only asked me to keep calm. I'm pretty sure we'll have to alert the police if I don't hear from Jenny in 24h." The thought of alerting the cops was making him sick in his stomach.

"Good Lord!" She shook her head. "This is turning out so bad! I don't know what to say Rufus. I only wish Alison could understand what she's doing to you….to us." Then Lily hugged him.

"I missed you today. I felt bad for making you feel so miserable. I'm sorry Lil." He kissed her temple several times.

"Stop apologizing Rufus." She pulled away and kissed him on the lips tenderly.

He deepened the kiss. While their tongues were tangled together, their hands started to show the one another how much they've missed their touch. Rufus pushed Lily backwards to the loft's door, pressing his chest against hers. Lily's hands were all over his body, moving quickly like they didn't want to leave a spot untouched. Rufus took Lily's face in his hands, they stopped for a moment and locked eyes. Lily smirked and brought her hands to his back and down to his butt, squeezing it. Rufus laughed and kissed her again, brushing his tongue upon her lips, teasing her. Their mouths dropped open at the very first time, allowing their tongues to intertwine again. Rufus' hands slowly moved from the back of her neck to her lower back, he softly caressed her ass and moved his right hand between her legs from behind. He started massaging her from above her pants. Lily moaned and felt shivers through her whole body as his hand started to move in slow motion. Rufus' touch was always ecstatic to her.

"Ok…." She broke the kiss. "Maybe I'm starting to like the way you're apologizing to me a little too much and Dan is sleeping in the other room. Can we go back home, please?" She asked trying to figure out how capable Rufus was to make her feel that way without even getting her undressed.

"I'll take my stuff, leave a note to Dan and then we can go, ok?" He kissed her softy. Lily nodded in response.

On their way back home Rufus and Lily were holding each other's hand in the cab, just happy to have reconciled. "Hey did I wake you up with my call before?" She asked turning her face to Rufus. "I should have waited till morning, I know. I was just going crazy not having you around at home. I couldn't fall asleep in that cold bed so I went downstairs and saw the dinner you made for me and it melted my heart. You have always been there for me and today, when you needed me the most I guess, I walked away on you. It was such a selfish gesture even if I had a good reason to leave you alone, I shouldn't have left anyway." She said with regret. "Don't even think it. You should have slept me in the face for being such a jerk to you. I don't know what got into me, I've never been a yeller." Rufus looked down.

"Alison pushed you over the edge." She lifted his face up with her hand and turned it around to meet hers. "It's understandable." She kissed him quickly on the lips. "I mean…I know you Rufus like nobody else does. That was not my Rufus. This one is. Maybe we should give Alison a little taste of that Rufus to make her realize what she's doing." They both laughed.

"Do you really want to give Alison a taste of me?" Rufus asked with curiosity and a smirk.

"Don't you dare Humphrey! I take back what I just said. No Rufus for that bitch ever again. You'll meet her in court and that will be it. Trust me." She smiled pinching his cheek.

"Awww my baby is jealous….AGAIN!" He laughed kissing her on the neck.

"Rufus please!" She half smiled.

"Anyway you didn't wake me up. I wasn't able to get some sleep either. I'm too damn used to holding you in my arms at night while I sleep! You're addictive Mrs. Humphrey, did anybody ever tell you that?" He says still pecking brief kisses on her neck.

"I don't know" She held her head back. "I'm pretty sure one of my ex husbands was on the same page of yours." She laughed.

"Ah ah. Very funny." Rufus got back to his original position. Lily pouted in disagreement and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. They kissed their way back home away.


	4. Chapter 4 Alison team

The morning after, Lily woke up in Rufus' arms. She lifted her head up to look at him, he was sleeping so peacefully she was worried to wake him up by moving an inch of her body . His leg was wrapped around her hips, so moving without waking him up was easier said than done. She had no complaints though, Lily liked the way Rufus used to show her she was his and his only even when he was sleeping. Him holding her so tight with every inch of his body proved that Rufus owned her and she could just do nothing about it. They belonged together, she belonged in his arms and she couldn't wait for him to wake up to start their day together. While Lily was thinking about how lucky she was to have Rufus in her life, she felt his leg sliding back to his side and Rufus stretching a little bit. "Finally you're awake!" Lily stated turning around and placing her hand on his chest. Rufus moved his face close to her and brushed his lips against hers "Good morning to you too."Lily smiled and wrapped her arm around his chest, resting her head on it too. "Oh boy…it's gonna be a long day!" Rufus sighed.

"I know darling, but don't worry we'll find a way out of it. I promise."Lily said kissing him quickly on his chest.

Rufus laughed."I wasn't talking about Jenny or Alison."

She lifted her head up to look into his eyes almost questioning him with hers. "It's gonna be a long day because of this." He rolled her on her back climbing on top of her. They were both already undressed, they both passed out instantly after their hard lovemaking session last night. Rufus started kissing Lily's neck tickling her a little with his tongue, she started laughing "Rufus stop it!".

He kept on going pretending that nothing was ever said by his wife, starting to get more seriously. Rufus moved his fingers up and down her body giving her shivers as he was doing so. "Rufus please….we really need to get up." Lily almost begged him. She got nothing in response….at least verbally. Rufus spread Lily's leg with his left knee and slowly brought his hand between her legs.

Lily instinctively moaned as he came into contact with her wetness. "And you begged me to stop, huh?" Rufus smirked at her while stroking her. "Rufus…" she got caught by a moan. "We should…" She was interrupted by her husband kissing her with fury. She broke the kiss and locked eyes with him. "Ok, fine. I give up. You better start working Humphrey." She said moving his hand away and guiding his erection into her. They both moaned as he entered her.

Later that day Rufus and Lily were at their lawyer's office. "So I guess this is it. Rufus, you and I must go to the police, 24 hours have already past."Rufus had no expression on his face. He just nodded and turned to Lily saying"See you at home?"

Both of them stood up."Honey I can come with you. I'll cancel my schedule for the day, It's really not a problem." She placed an hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, but no. Go do what you planned to do. I'll meet you at home, ok?" He wanted to tell her to go with him, but didn't want her to see him so vulnerable and so miserable.

"Ok, then." She kissed him on the cheek "Thank you for everything Joshua, I knew I could count on you." She shook the lawyer's hand and left the room.

"We can take my car to go there." Joshua said to Rufus while taking his bag.

"Is this the only choice we have for sure? I mean...are we sure there'sure..." Rufusfelt so anxious.

"Rufus I already told you that." The lawyer interrupted him. "If you want your daughter back, this is the right thing to do." The lawyer said putting some

papers in his bag before closing it up.

"But I'm going to press charges against the mother of my children." Every word that came out of his mouth felt like a stab right to his chest.

"Whom, for the record, is trying to keep one of them away from you against her will."

"I know, I know. I'd do anything to bring Jenny back home, but that's such a no turning back point." Rufus shook his head.

"Rufus I have three children too. I think I have a clue about how hard it must be to see one of them taken away from you. If you want to end this story, you

better come with me to the police station. Trust me." Joshua encouraged his client.

"I don't want to hurt my daughter pressing charges against her mother. She has been through so much in the last year!" Rufus knew how badly this would affect his daughter's life.

"Ok, then. We will stay here and wait for the trial to start. But I have to warn you, she is the mother and judges tend to take the mother's side most of

the time. I already told you that. She made a huge mistake taking her back to Hudson against your daughter's will. We have to take advantage of that."

"Joshua….I don't know…I really don't. Why can't I go over there and try to talk to Alison?" Rufus was trying to convince himself there were other options

other than going to the police. ..."Because you'd lose your chance to prove in court what kind of bad example Alison can set for Jenny." His lawyer replied patiently.

"This sounds unfair. I don't want to hurt Jenny anymore." Rufus sat back on a chair.

"We are going to make her happy and take her home Rufus, but in order to achieve that you need to go to the police station right now. You have no options, but this one." Joshua said firmly.

"Fine. Let's go then, before I change my mind." Rufus sighed while getting up.

Lily came back home later that afternoon and found Rufus playing with his guitar on the couch. He looked sad, very sad. No music came out of his guitar to be fully honest, he was just making noises with it, strumming it. Lily rested her head on the door's frame, watching her husband as he was trying to keep his mind busy. She knocked on the open door after a couple of minutes of staring at him and told him "Did you do it?"

"Yes." He mumbled.

"Maybe you need some time alone, I was planning to go check on Serena at the Ostroff center. Do you want me to order something for dinner? Or do you feel like cooking?" Lily felt Rufus needed some time to just get himself back together, so she decided to keep the distance and not be hard on him.

"Order something please." Rufus said, his back still facing Lily.

"Ok. What would you like to eat? I was thinking Chinese or Japanese What do you say?" She smiled hoping the thought of food would cheer him up.

"Whatever you want." Rufus was more than sad, Lily noticed.

"Fine, I'll order both then. I'm starving!" She grinned.

"Good."

Lily walked away without saying another word. She was in pain watching Rufus being so miserable. The food was delivered an hour and a half later. Lily went upstairs to inform Rufus dinner was ready. And there he was laying on the bed staring at the ceiling. "Hey…dinner is ready." Lily said entering the room. Rufus didn't say a word in response, his eyes still on the ceiling. "Do you want me to bring you some in bed?" She asked sitting on their bed. Rufus shook is head."Rufus." Lily sighed taking his hand and placing it on her thigh. "Talk to me. Please." Lily started caressing his arm.

"I went to the police station and pressed charges against Alison. The mother of my kids. How sick is that?" He brought both his hands on his face, burying it in them.

"Honey you know this was the next step to take. Did she give you any other choice?" Lily took his hand into hers and clinched it.

"No." He whispered.

"Then stop torturing yourself. Alison is the one who started it."

"Dan and Jenny are going to hate me for this." Rufus stated.

"No, they are not. Rufus, Alison kidnapped Jenny!" She cried.

"Oh come on! We both know that's not true. Alison would never ever kidnap her own daughter just to get back at me. She wanted Jenny to come home with her and she forced her to. That's it." Rufus said turning on his right side, so that his back was facing Lily.

"I tried to call Jenny all day long Rufus and her cell phone is dead. Eric tried to talk to her via skype and she's never online. Not to mention the tons of emails and text messages she's going to receive once Alison will give her the phone back." Lily took his shoulder and turned him on his back again.

"Alison didn't take her phone. I bet there's a better explanation."

"You know what? Think whatever you want about her being a saint or something like that, but I won't buy it. You did the right thing by going to the police." Lily said getting up briefly.

"You sound so smug Lily!" Rufus spoke without thinking twice about it.

"I'm not even going to respond to that." She said leaving the room.

Lily and Eric had dinner alone. There was tons of food and Lily didn't take a bite of it. Rufus was still upstairs mad at himself and probably at the rest of the world too.

"So…." Eric started. "Chinese and Japanese huh? Nice combo!" He took a sip of his lemonade. Lily faked a smile and nodded while playing with her food.

"Once upon a time you used to tell me it's not polite to play with food when you're supposed to eat it instead." Eric joked.

"Well….I would have said anything to stop you and your sister from having a food fight."

"Actually I think It's very rude too mom." Eric smiled.

"I'm sorry." She rolled her eyes.

"What's wrong with you and Rufus? Why is he acting like that?" Eric was a little bit worried about his mother and Rufus' marriage.

"Because he's frustrated by this situation Alison got him into." Lily faked a smile to prove to her son that Rufus' attitude was quite normal considering what they were going through.

"Frustrated or mad?" Eric asked obstinately.

"Both….I think." Lying to Eric was not working out the way she hoped.

"Yes, but why isn't he here having dinner with us? You know once upon a time my mother used to tell me…"

"It's not very polite to not show up at the table for dinner." She interrupted him annoyed. Eric laughed.

"What I was trying to say is ...that we don't have to pay for someone else's mistakes. It's been days now and we are all so nervous and tense, I miss our family routine. That's all." Eric stroked his mother hand softly and then took another sip of his drink.

"I agree with you my darling, but we can't control people's actions and reactions. We love Rufus and respect his decisions whether we agree with him or not . I'm going to put this food in the fridge in case he decides to eat something later. It would be a terrible waste to throw it away." Eric nodded and finished his dinner.

Lily took some of the plates and wrapped them with aluminum foil before putting them into in the fridge. After a couple of minutes Rufus came down. Lily and Eric were eating dessert laughing out loud at what seemed to be a joke. He went straight to the table and gave Lily a kiss on the top of her head, she was surprised because she didn't hear him coming down. Then Rufus leaned down and hugged Eric. "Hey man!" He said.

"Hey!" He replied. "We're sorry. We waited for you, but you didn't seem in the mood for…"

"No problem Eric. It's alright." Rufus interrupted him. "Actually I wanted to apologize because I understand I'm acting a little weird lately, but I can't help it."

"We understand, don't we Eric?" Lily winked at her son.

"Sure we do. I'm sorry for this whole situation Rufus, I really am." Eric stated trying to show Rufus his concern.

"I know and I want to thank you and your mom for being so supportive. It means the world to me." All three of them smiled. "So, do you save some dessert for me too?" He said touching his tummy.

"Yes my dear." Lily got up to get a plate for him, but Rufus quickly took herin his arms and kissed her passionately. He always had his special way to apologize to Lily. She was a little overwhelmed but wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

"You know what? I forgot this was our true family routine: you making out, me covering my ears and my eyes while I walk away". Eric said getting up and covering his eyes with both his hands.

Lily and Rufus burst into laughter. "Came here kiddo!" Rufus extended his arm to let Eric join them into the hug.

"I miss Jenny." Eric said laying his head on his mother's arm. Rufus and Lily looked at each other knowing they were both thinking the same thing, they missed her too.

After this emotional moment Rufus enjoyed the rest of the evening eating like a pig while Lily and Eric were making fun of him. Then they decided to watch a movie. He needed some distraction, thinking about Jenny was driving him crazy."God Eric this movie is so sickly sweet! Are you sure it won't give me diabetes?" Lily asked while watching Mandy Moore and Shane West kissing.

"Come on mom! It's from Nicholas Sparks, I thought you liked him." Eric protested.

"First of all books are way different to their big screen adaptations,second of all this is just eeeewk!" Rufus laughed out loud at the face Lily made.

"Eric, your mother is not what I would define a romantic woman when it comes to this kind of stuff."

"What are you trying to tell me Rufus? That She's some kind of nymphomaniac?" They both laughed.

Lily lightly hit Rufus' leg. "Oh stop it!" Then she turned to her left glancing at Eric. "Both of you."

"I gotta say this is pretty annoying Eric though. When is she going to die? For the love of God!" Rufus exclaimed.

"Gosh what does bit into your chests people? Rocks? I'm out of here." He held his hands up and made his way to his room. "Goodnight Mr. and Mrs. Burns!" He cried from his room.

Rufus and Lily were laughing so hard, like they hadn't done in awhile. She curled up into his arms, he moved her closer, lifting her to make her seat on his lap and resting her body against his chest. She shivered. He took the blanket Eric had left and covered her. "Mmm…So much better." She mumbled.

"This damn movie is still going on, how do I turn this off? It's torture formy eyes and my ears." He cried while pressing all the buttons on the remote. Lily chuckled.

"The red one Rufus, the red one."

"Amen!" He cried when the screen went black.

"We have no heart, Eric's right." She smiled looking at her husband.

"Oh please, We have enough drama in our everyday life!" He stated.

"Oh you bet!" She laughed and then kissed his chest caressing him with her hand.

"I'm sorry about before…I was exhausted." Rufus brushed some hair out of her face.

"I know." She smiled as he did so. Rufus was so fond of her.

"Babe you've been so patient with me lately! I'm just having a hard time. The second hardest of my life to be honest."

"I know Rufus. The divorce process must have been tough too." Lily reassured him leaning her forehead against his.

"Divorce? I wasn't referring to my divorce." He lifted up his mouth to kiss her forehead. "You gave me the hardest time of my life when you walked away from me, back in the day." They locked eyes.

"Oh Rufus!" She pouted.

"I love you Lil….to death." Hearing those words coming from Rufus' mouth always made Lily's heart sink and probably always would.

"And I love you. I wish we could stay like this forever." She said wrapping her arms around his neck, weaving her hand through his hair.

"Yeah….me too." Rufus said holding her even tighter.

The morning after Lily was getting ready to go to a meeting with Chuck and Rufus was taking a shower. All of a sudden she heard a familiar voice screaming loud "Dad! Dad!" Lily tied her robe and ran downstairs as she kept on hearing screams "For the love of God come down dad!". As Dan saw her, he walked towards her. "Where is he?" Lily never saw Dan so furious.

"Dad calm down! What happened?" She asked concerned.

"Don't act like you know nothing! He pressed charges against my mother? What the hell Lily?" Dan was more than furious.

"Calm down Daniel, please."

"I am not going to ask you twice Lily. Where is he?" It looked like he had fire in his eyes.

"He's taking a shower right now. Sit down please" She took his hand and led him to the couch. "I'll tell him you're here, but please calm down. He doesn't need that kind of attitude right now."

"Just bring him downstairs please."

Lily and Rufus came down after a couple of minutes.

"Dan?" Rufus was worried, he knew what was coming his way.

"How could you dad? I thought you said you were going to solve this thing peacefully. What the hell did you do?" Dan walked in his father direction.

"Dan…I had no choice. I'm feel bad for her, but I really had no choice." Rufus stated hoping his son would be understanding.

"You had no choice dad? I got up this morning and mom called me saying a police officer showed up at her house late yesterday night looking for thought she kidnapped her for real? What's wrong with you?" Dan was like a raging river.

"I was worried Dan! Jenny's phone was off, your mom's phone was off. I tried to contact them in every single way I could think of and got nowhere. I talked to

my lawyer and after 24h that was the only thing left to do." Rufus tried to explain without avail.

"Alerting the police was the last thing to do? Come on! You were willing to go to Hudson the other day. Then you had a stupid fight with Lily and forgot about everything. So you decided to call your lawyer and send the cops over to Hudson. Well done!" Dan clapped his hands as in an applause.

"Dan I swear to God I didn't mean to hurt any of you. Besides You were the one telling me to call my lawyer, did you forget?"

"Nope. I told you to call your lawyer, not the cops dad!"

"That was what our lawyer advised us to do Daniel." Lily barged in.

"Why on Earth did you listen to him then? It's obviously the worst you could do to our family." Dan decided to ignore his stepmother.

"Our family Dan? She wantsfull custody of Jenny! That's not what I'd call a family." Rufus was getting mad now.

"You know I had your back from moment number one, but you crossed the line. The cops dad! The cops!" Dan screamed.

"Did she get arrested?" Rufus asked hesitant.

"Of course not! Jenny said she went with her because she wanted to. She lied to cover up for mom."

"This is ridiculous." Lily rolled her eyes.

"No Lily, I'm gonna tell you what is ridiculous: my father pressing charges against my mom. That is ridiculous." Dan replied to her this time pointing his finger at her.

"I'm sorry I have to disagree with you. He had your sister's best interest at heart." Lily shook her head.

"After all Jenny has been through this is the last thing she needs." Dan pointed at Rufus then. "You screwed up dad!"

"Dan, try to understand. 24 hours had passed, I had no clue about where she was, I was scared for her."

"Yes, so scared you didn't move to search for her cause that day you were too busy looking for Lily, who was so hurt because her husband yelled at her. Big deal!" Dan was trying to hurt his father and Lily as best he could.

"This is none of your business Dan. I tried to find your sister, but in the end I couldn't." Rufus answered his son tolerantly.

"You knew she was at mom's place. Why didn't you go there then? You did it on purpose. You waited 24 hours and then went to the police station. This is so not you!"

"What do you mean?" Rufus asked annoyed.

"This is something your wife would do, not you. I'm sorry Lily but that's what I think." He brought his hands up in the air.

"I won't allow you to talk like that about my wife, whom for your information has been nothing but supportive throughout this hell your mother has put me through. Our lawyer advised us to go to the police. And as knowledgeable and cultured as she is, Lily is not a lawyer." Rufus silenced Dan.

The two looked at each other, anger in their eyes.

"To start with that man was Lily's lawyer before she introduced him to you, so please, how sure are you that she didn't pressurize him to make you believe you had no other choice?" Dan smirked.

"This is unbelievable Dan! How dare you?" Rufus screamed.

"Are we talking about the same Lily who committed her son to Ostroff Center telling the rest of the world he was in Florida in order to avoid a scandal? Are we talking about the same Lily who decided to send her own daughter to prison to give her a lesson? Are we talking about the same person who hid your child from you for 20 years? That's how I dare dad!" Dan crossed the line. For sure.

Lily was in shock. Since when did Dan hate her so much?

"Those things have nothing to do with your mother and what is going on between me and her. Lily is my wife, but she's not making any decisions for me. I was the one who went to the police station, I was the one who made the choice in the end. Don't even think she has any responsibility for this." Rufus was livid.

"I can't help it. Mom is right. You are her little toy. She plays with you and then she'll throw you away, just like she did with all of her other you know that too. Try to make some money out of it at least dad." Dan suggested his father.

"That's it Dan. I want you to apologize to your stepmother right now!" Rufus couldn't believe what he just heard.

"There's no way I'm going to apologize to her. She tainted you, she changed your lifestyle and made my sister's life miserable by forcing her to be a part of this crazy world she belongs to."

"You liked this world when it came to Serena, didn't you Dan?" Now Rufus was the one putting a knife in the sore.

"Serena is nothing like her. She's a different person." Dan said firmly looking into his father's eyes straight.

"Serena is an upper east sider son, there's nothing you can do about it. And I could not feel luckier to live here with the woman I've always been in love with. Upper East Side, Brooklyn, Timbuktu or wherever it is I will always feelthe luckiest man on Earth as long as she's by my side. That being said I don't think I have to show you the way to the door." He said placing his hands on his hips.

"You disappointed me…a lot."

"You have no idea how much you disappointed me today Daniel." Rufus answered.

Dan walked away without saying a word. "Well….that was….Geez…." Lily stammered.

"Come here." Rufus opened his arms and Lily cuddled into them.

"I'm…I'm sorry for…" She blushed.

"Shhh." He stopped her, holding her closer to his chest.

"I love you and you love me. That's all I need to know right now Lil."

"I do love you." She wrapped her arms around his chest tighter.


	5. Chapter 5 Alison's out of control

_I wanted to thank my friend, Rashmika, for helping me with the correction process. Thanks Rash again. Plus I wanted to thank everyone who left a review, I really appreciate it. Thank you. I hope you'll enjoy reading the following chapter as well._

The days were passing slowly and Rufus had received no news about both his children. He was starting to worry about their relationships, about how much Alison's actions had already affected it. Lily in the meantime was trying with all her strength to keep the rest of the family together by paying many visits a week to Serena at the center and by trying to make Eric feel less alone. Rufus was miserable most of the time, Lily knew he wasn't speaking to his son because of what he said about her and that made her feel somewhat guilty. Lily really didn't want there to tension between Dan and Rufus, they meant so much to each other. Accepting that Jenny took Alison's side was the most difficult for Rufus. Both of his children turned their backs on him and this was hurting him too much to even admit it to himself, not to mention to Lily. Rufus was grumpy all day long, he used to stay up most of the night, unable to get some sleep. The court case was due to start in less than a week and Lily couldn't be more relieved, finally the truth would have come out and Rufus would have his family reunited again. Lily started to miss his husband, he was so cold with everybody around him. Dinners were the most awkward part of the day, Rufus Lily and Eric used to sit around the table and eat without saying a word. Eric was trying to skip them almost every night saying he had homework to do or nights out with his boyfriend to avoid the unbearable awkwardness at home. Lily noticed her son's behavior and begged him to stay at home at least for dinners, but the teenage boy was inflexible, he felt like there was no oxygen left in that house. Rufus and Lily were barely talking now and it was so hard to keep the family together since nobody was talking to each other. Serena was still at the center and Lily was worried about her drug issue more than she let Rufus see, Eric couldn't stand Rufus being so crabby all the time and so cold with him and Lily most of all, Rufus felt like he was living another man's life. It was surreal to even spend a day in that house and not feeling either sad or pissed off. Sick and tired of the situation Lily decided to go talk with Dan, Rufus really needed his son's support. She went to the loft and as humble as she had ever been in her life started speaking the moment Dan opened the door "Please let me come in. I need to talk to you and I know you are too polite to shut the door right to my face." Dan opened the door fully and let her in. As she stepped into the loft Lily stopped shocked at what she saw: both Alison and Jenny were there. Alison looked at Lily almost with disgust, Jenny on the other hand looked down feeling embarrassed and guilty at the same time. " Hi Alison, Jenny." Lily said trying not to sound too much taken aback.

"May I ask you what the hell are you doing here?" Alison was angry at her just like the last time they saw each other.

"Well….It's nice to see you too Alison. I came over here to talk to your son to be honest. I didn't expect you to be here." Lily didn't want to give her too much attention and turned her back on Alison to face Dan again.

"Well soon this will be my home again. I'm thinking about moving back to the City, where my family is." Alison said smugly.

"Maybe I'm not the one who should tell you this, but they have lived here in the last three years too. Just saying." Lily didn't move of an inch while saying this.

"Lily please tell me what you needed to say to me, then leave." Dan stated before his mom could reply.

"If it's not too much to ask, can we talk in private?"

"I have nothing to hide from my mother and sister, do you Lily?" Apparently Dan wasn't so happy to see her either.

"Well, of course not. It's just that I don't want other people to interfere with our conversation."

"I am pretty sure what you're about to say involves them too, so please go ahead." He insisted.

"Fine." She stated crossing her arms on her chest. "Your father is miserable and has been feeling like this since your fight. I'm not here on his behalf, he doesn't know anything. I just wanted to ask you to meet him, sit down with him and talk. You really need to talk to each other again. You're not involved in the custody case, so please just give him a chance to explain himself."

"I have to disagree with you, I am part of it just as much as my sister is. It's our parents we are talking about."

"I know Daniel and I would have never ever wanted this to happen to your family, to my family." Lily heard Alison laugh when she said "my family".

"What's so funny Alison?" She turned her face to look at her.

"Oh nothing really, except for the fact that you're convinced you have a family with my ex husband." Alison laughed even louder.

"And would you like to prove to me why I shouldn't be convinced about it?" Lily asked annoyed by her childish behavior.

"Because you really don't have a family with him. You have a family with William Van Der Woodsen, just like I have one with Rufus."

"Having children with someone doesn't mean creating a family. And as far as Im concerned Rufus and I have a family, we are a family and your children can prove me right." Lily said boldly.

Alison looked right into her children eyes, waiting for an answer. Dan brought his arms to his face and exclaimed "Don't put me in the middle of it, please mom!" Then she turned to Jenny and the girl started crying. "We were a family mom. What can I say?" She sobbed.

Lily heart melted. Finally Jenny spoke the truth, she finally opened her heart. Alison was astonished, she couldn't believe what she just heard her daughter say. Lily moved towards the chair where Jenny was sitting in and caressed her head. Jenny looked up at her, her mascara was all over her face. Lily leaned down and looked in her deep blue eyes "We still are a family Jenny if you want us to be one." Jenny threw herself at Lily, crossing her arms around her stepmother's shoulders. Lily was overwhelmed, she didn't expect that to happen. She thought Jenny was happy with them being separated after she covered up for her mother. The girl was sobbing hard and it seemed like she wanted to cry her heart out for a while now. "Shh….It's ok." Lily whispered into her ear holding her tight.

"Get your hands off my daughter bitch!" Alison shouted. Lily didn't move of an inch.

"I said get away from her!" Her tone was even louder now, but Lily kept on holding Jenny in her arms. Then Alison grabbed Lily's bun like she wanted to rip her hair off and pulled up with all her strength. Lily screamed in pain, letting go of Jenny. As Lily got up on her feet Alison let go and pushed her to the floor with both her arms, Lily hit her head hard on the chair's edge which Jenny was sitting on. "Mom what the fuck?" Jenny screamed as she leaned down to help Lily get up. "Mom come with me, let's get out of here before this gets worse." Dan said grabbing his mother's hand and leading her to the door. "Dan?" Jenny's eyes were wide open in shock. Dan turned around and noticed there were spots of blood on the floor. "Oh God!" He ran towards Lily, lifting her head up and taking her in his arms. "Lily can you hear me? Please stay awake. Don't close your eyes Lily!" He said slapping her softly on her cheeks. "Call 911! Call 911 for the love of God!" He screamed looking at Jenny. Jenny rushed to the phone and did what her brother said. "Hello? I need an ambulance, my stepmom just fell and hit her head very hard. She's bleeding!" Jenny started to cry. Alison took her bag and ran away at once.

The ER doors opened and Rufus showed up running towards his kids with tears in his eyes. "Where is she?" He asked his son still in shock grabbing his shoulders and shaking them.

"The doctors are with her right now." Dan said trying to hug his father, but Rufus stepped back.

"What the fuck happened Dan? I want the truth." Rufus was mad as hell.

"Mom pushed her to the floor, she fell and hit her head very hard. Then she started bleeding and we called 911." Dan answered with shame.

"Alison hit her? Are you serious?" Rufus tried not to yell since they were in a public.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I….I don't!" Dan stammered.

"Shut the hell up Dan! Shut up!" Rufus threatened him. Dan looked down. "No tell me one more thing: where's Alison?"

"She…" Dan started.

"She ran away as soon as I called 911. I feel terrible dad. I'm so sorry about everything. Mom is out of control, now I know." Jenny sobbed.

"Jen do me a favor: get out of here." Rufus turned his face to the right.

"Both of you."

"Dad!" Jenny cried "Please let us stay. We love Lily."

"Don't make me say it twice Jenny. Out. Now." Rufus pointed to the door behind him.

"Jenny if he doesn't want us here, we should go." Dan said moving closer to his sister and putting his arm around her shoulders.

"NO! Please Dad no! I need to know if she's ok, please!" Jenny bawled.

"I'll call you later." And with that Rufus left to go inquire about Lily's condition.

After a couple of hours a doctor came out of a big white door looking for Rufus Humphrey. "That's me." Rufus said getting up.

"Mr. Humphrey your wife's condition is stable. She has a mild TBI, but hopefully she's be awake soon. There shouldn't be any consequences."

"Thank God! How long does she have to stay in the hospital doc. Bennet?" Rufus asked looking down at his alb.

"Well, I can't say it for sure, but she should be out of here in a couple of days. She should be fine. As far as the baby is concerned I'm not so sure the same can be said."

Rufus froze. His mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"

"We hope we can discharge Mrs. Humphrey in a couple of days, more or less." The doctor repeated.

"No, wait. You were talking about a baby. What baby?" He asked in shock.

"Your wife is pregnant. Didn't you know that?" The doctor asked.

"Gosh! No, no I didn't. Oh my God. I need to talk to her. Is the baby ok? Are both of them ok?" Rufus tried to enter the door from which the doctor came out. But the doctor pushed him back.

"They are doing some tests right now. The gynecologist is giving her an ultrasound. We had to do a CT scan on your wife, and we only found out that she was pregnant after the scan. So there is a possibility that the radiation she had could have caused damage to the baby in some way. Nobody told us she was pregnant Mr. Humphrey. " Dr. Bennet explained.

"Oh dear God! This is unbelievable." Rufus was shocked and thrilled at the same time. "What kind of damage could it cause to our baby?"

"Well the radiation was directed only to your wife's head, so the likelihood that the radiation exposure may be responsible for malformations or birth defects is very unlikely. But…"

"But?" Rufus interrupted him, anxiety overtaking him.

"But there are few possibilities that the radiation could have affected the regular growth and development of the foetus."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Even if there are very few possibilities the baby could be born with some malformations, I cannot assure you that your baby will be perfectly fine. Your wife is 43 years old and she has had cancer as I was informed, so even without her undergoing radiation, this would be a hazardous pregnancy." The doctor tried to be as cautious as he could when he said this.

"Just to be clear. Are you suggesting abortion?" Rufus cut him off.

"I am not suggesting anything Mr. Humphrey, I'm just saying you should consider all the options now… before it's too late, you know?"

"I need to see her. Now." Rufus said firmly.

"She's still unconscious, I'll let you in as soon as she wakes up." The doctor responded.

Rufus nodded, still in shock.

An hour or so later the doctor called Rufus out and led him into Lily's room. "God Lil!" He cried as he entered the room. Lily was finally awake and softly smiled at him. He ran to her bed and leaned down to kiss her temple, taking her hand in his.

"What a day, huh?" She almost laughed.

"I'm so relieved you're ok. " He kissed her on the lips this time and a tear ran down his cheek. Rufus was just overwhelmed with everything he happened to know that day.

"Rufus why are you crying? I'm fine baby." Lily leaned in to kiss him again.

"I need to tell you something." He stood back.

"What? You're scaring me now." Lily suddenly had a feeling that something was wrong.

"They had to give you a CT scan. You know what that means right?" Rufus was pretty flickering.

"Actually no. Rufus, what's wrong?" Lily glared at him.

"Well to make sure everything was ok with you, they had to give you a CT scan. But it could have caused some damage. Why didn't you tell me about it before? What were you waiting for?" Rufus asked with a sad tone in his voice.

"About what? What are you talking about?" Lily was very confused.

"Wait a minute. You didn't know…..you don't know that you're pregnant?" Rufus was confused one now.

"I'm what?" Lily's mouth dropped open.

"You are…Oh God! You didn't know?" Rufus was shocked, wondering if it was it possible for a woman not to feel this kind of things. Especially after having two children already.

"No…I mean I….Oh my God. Is this true?" Lily's eyes filled with tears.

"Of course it is." Rufus said and kissed her on the cheek.

"We're having a baby!" Lily burst into tears and threw herself at Rufus, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly. Rufus hugged her back. Trying to forget the pain he was about to give to her

when he told her about what the doctor suggested they should do."Honey….as I was trying to tell you before…." He pulled away to look into her hazel eyes. How on Earth was he supposed to tell his wife what he had to? Lily would be devastated. "The doctors had to give you a CT scan. This kind of scan involves radiation and even if the rays were directed to your head and not to the central region of your body, they could still have…."

"No." Lily interrupted Rufus, shaking her head lustily.

"Lil I'm sorry, the doctors didn't know you were pregnant, neither did you. So…"

"No." She repeated.

"Lily…please. We just have to talk about it and decide what's best for you."

"NO!" She screamed and buried her face in her hands sobbing. Rufus took her in his arms and held her close. Lily rested her head on his chest crying her heart out. The thought her having an abortion was killing him, but he couldn't bear the thought of continuing with such an unsafe pregnancy that could cause harm to both Lily and their baby.

"Lil…look at me." Rufus pulled away and turned his wife's face around to face him. "This pregnancy was already in danger because of your age and physical condition. You had cancer a year and a half ago. And now this….It's just not the right time. I will support you if you decide to…."

"Rufus don't even say it." Tears were running down her cheeks copiously.

"Lily this is what the doctor suggested too. It could be dangerous for you to continue with this pregnancy. You know this is the last thing I would ever do, but I don't want to lose you or…."

"So you'd rather lose the baby." She sobbed interrupting him.

"No. Lily please, here me out. We'll do whatever you decide to do in the end, but please just think about it carefully." He stroked some hair out of her eyes.

"Do you want this baby?" Lily asked full of hopes.

"Yes, but jeopardizing your health is not an option for me." Rufus answered firmly.

"How did you feel when the doctor told you I was pregnant?" She was not bailing out, not for anything in the world.

"I….I don't know. Excited and thrilled, but scared at the same time." Rufus admitted. He didn't want to resort to an abortion, but Lily came first and he wanted her to have the final say.

"Were you more excited and thrilled or more scared?" Lily was trying to make a point.

"Why are you asking me this?" The look on Rufus' face was already the answer to her question.

"Rufus, answer me." Lily begged her beloved husband.

"More excited and thrilled." Rufus looked down.

"Then we know what to do. Right?" She Lifted his chin up with her finger.

"Lily…." He sighed.

"No Rufus! Don't ask me to kill my own baby, our baby not after I gave my first born up for adoption. Don't ask me to end the life of the baby we could finally raise together, as a family." Lily spoke her heart out, tears falling down her cheeks again.

"I'm not, I am just saying we should think about it so that we can make a weighted decision." Rufus cupped her face with his hands, wiping some tears out her face with his thumbs.

"There is nothing to talk about. I will not give up this time Rufus. I made so many mistakes in my life, you have no idea! But this one, this particular one, I just cannot go through with. I couldn't live with the regret." Lily

placed an hand on Rufus' hand caressing it.

"I know this is not easy and it will never be, but the baby could be malformed or having other kinds of health issues, are we ready for it? Could we take care of him or her no matter what? Why should we let him or her live such a miserable life and be so selfish?" Rufus wasn't so wrong, but Lily was not being very reasonable at the moment.

"So killing our baby would be such a generous act? What the hell are you talking about?" She pushed his hands off of her face.

"Lily I am scared. Scared as I have never been before. Please, try to understand." Rufus said with teary eyes.

"Come here." Lily held her arms to him. They hugged and started crying at the very same moment. "I want this baby Rufus, no matter what." She sobbed still pressing herself against his body.

"I want this baby too…..but the price to pay to have him or her is too high." Rufus said pulling away and wiping his eyes.

"It is not. This baby will have all the love he or she deserves. I'll take care of him or her and myself over the next 9 months, I swear everything will be okay." Lily tried to smile to reassure Rufus they would end up in a good place.

The locked eyes for some time and then Rufus stated "So, we're having a baby Lil." Lily smiled, relieved.

"Yes we are. And it's going to be the most amazing…." Rufus interrupted her by kissing her passionately. Lily kissed him back. They both knew they were trying to give each other the strength they needed to go through that journey with that kiss.

"I am very proud of you Lil, I really appreciate what you're going to do. Thank you." He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

"You don't have to thank me. I want to thank you for giving me the joy of bringing a new life to the world again." They kissed one more time. "I cannot believe you got me pregnant again Humphrey!" They both instantly laughed.

"I love you."

"No, I love you Lil. Just promise me you will never leave me. Promise me we're in this together and we'll be till the end." Rufus was scared to death to lose Lily due to pregnancy complications.

"I promise my love. We are in this together." Lily kissed him softly again. Then she rested her aching head on his shoulder smelling his cologne. Rufus stroked her back while holding her. They were both scared to death. Scared they were too old to have another baby, scared to bring an ill baby to the world, scared for Lily's own health. The next 9 months would be tough, that's for sure.


	6. Chapter 6 Alison's out of the picture

Eric and Serena came into the room short after, relieved their mother was ok. Rufus left them alone to have some privacy. Serena and her brother were white as a sheet when they entered the room, It was one hell of a scare that Lily gave Both of them. After half an hour, Lily asked them to leave, it was getting late and Serena had to go back to the Ostroff Center. Eric protested a little bit, but Serena convinced him to go using the "Mom needs to rest" card. They were very loving with Lily and hugged and kissed her four of five times each before

leaving her.

"Hey….finally alone!" Rufus grinned looking at his wife as he came back into Lily's room.

"Well….guess It's not gonna be you and me alone for the next 9 months to say the least." Lily laughed.

"Oh right! I forgot I got you pregnant!" Rufus joked.

"I wonder if you realize you're not that funny sometimes."

"Touché." He smiled and leaned down kissing her forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Well after being beaten by your ex wife, being at the risk of falling into a coma and finding out I'm pregnant again after 18 years since my last pregnancy and that I am bringing forward a very risky pregnancy, I have to say I feel pretty good." She joked, with such bad timing.

"God! You are the not so funny one right now." Rufus glared at her. "I cannot believe what happened today. We didn't get the chance to talk about what happened. I feel horrible for not being there. I never thought of Alison as a violent woman. She barely yells when she's pissed off. I feel so sorry Lil. Why the hell did you go there in the first place?"

"I needed to talk to Dan. To tell him that he had to forgive you and talk to you, because you needed him so much right now. When I arrived at the loft Jenny and Alison where both there, Alison said you and I have no family together and that you and her have one instead. She said really mean and hurtful things. Then she asked Dan and Jenny if we were ever a family, Dan didn't want to answer and Jenny said that we were a family indeed. Then Jenny started crying I hugged her and reassured her that we'll always be a family, then Alison went crazy all of a sudden and threatened me, she told me to get my hands off Jenny twice, I didn't listen to her so she basically pulled me up by my hair and then pushed me to the floor. She's quite strong for a short woman." Lily laughed. Rufus couldn't believe it.

"Lil…I…I'm speechless." Rufus felt responsible for Alison's behavior in a way.

"Hey It's over. You're going to have full custody of Jenny for sure." Lily smiled.

"That's not it. Lily you are more important to me than anything else. You could have gone into coma today, I can't even think of losing you for a moment." He said with teary eyes.

"Rufus, my love, Jenny and Dan come first though. Always remember that. By the way where are they now?" Lily fondled him.

"I have no idea. I kicked them out of the hospital earlier." Rufus wasn't feeling bad at all for doing that. Now more that Lily had just told him what happened.

"What? Why?" Lily was upset, having him fighting with his children again was so not part of her plan.

"I was so mad at them, I was in shock after hearing what had happened to you. I just couldn't bear having them around."

"Rufus!" She admonished him.

"What? I was so scared and confused!" Making excuses was not working and Rufus knew it.

"Give me my phone. I'm gonna call them and tell them to come over tomorrow morning, I want my whole family to be here when we tell them the news about our baby." She held her arm to pick up the phone.

"Lil….You don't have to do that. Dan treated you like…"

"Rufus stop it." Lily interrupted him while picking up the phone. "This young man and this young woman are your son and your daughter, they're part of my family and my life. I care about them and love them very much, there's nothing I wouldn't do for them. Ok?" Rufus was stunned by how caring Lily was towards his children, even after what they did. Lily smiled, hoping their baby would bring their family together again.

"I don't know what to say Lil. You're such a good mother. And in less than 9 months you're going to be a mommy again. I'm so excited. I really hope we'll be alright this time. I just couldn't bear the thought of..."

"I know." She interrupted him again and kissed his hand. "Jenny? Hi darling. It's Lily. Yeah I feel good. Listen, your father is going to spend the night here at the hospital. I wanted to ask you and your brother to come here tomorrow sweetie, we want to talk to you. Both of us. Ok? Jenny please don't even say it. It's not your fault. I love you too. See you tomorrow, bye." Lily hung up the phone.

"Guess they're coming then." Rufus was not too thrilled about it.

"Rufus you need to talk to your children. What happened today has nothing to do with them. Just put this whole thing in the past. Ok?" Lily caressed his arm as he sat back on the bed next to her.

"They betrayed me, us, and took Alison's side after all you and I have done for them." He shook his head.

"Rufus, can you please let it go? For me?" Lily felt sorry for Rufus, but she knew that sometimes you have to let your children make their own mistakes in order for them grow stronger and get wiser. Serena and Eric taught her that lesson a long time ago.

"They owe me more than an apology. They're going to hear me tomorrow, they're so going to hear me!" Rufus was still angry at them.

"Rufus just drop it. I want this family to be happy and normal again. We are having a baby and I don't want him or her to come into a family full of grudges." Lily pouted.

"I know….You're perfectly right. I'll fix everything before you get back home." He leaned forward and kissed her temple.

"Thanks." She kissed him on the cheek.

"So? Speaking of this baby….when did this happen?" He smirked at her.

"I have no idea." Lily laughed rolling her eyes.

"When did you miss your period then? How could you not have noticed it?" Rufus asked her.

"Rufus I was going through a hard time, with Serena being at the Ostroff Center, the situation with your kids and Alison. I just didn't notice it." Lily tried to explain.

"What do you think? How long have you been pregnant now?" Rufus continued to ask.

"I don't know Rufus." Lily was getting annoyed by all her husband's questions. She really had no clue about when it happened since they were the opposite of a cold couple behind their bedroom doors and ahead.

"I thought you were on your pill though, weren't you on your pill?" Lily's face paled. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound so irritated about it, I'm so happy! Trust me. It's just that I want to know when, how..."

"How? Do you really want me to tell you the story about the stork again honey?" Lily teased him.

"You hit your head, but didn't lose a bit of your sarcasm, did you?" Rufus raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously Rufus, I don't know when I had my last period. When you're on the pill you just don't pay too much attention to it anymore."

"Yes, but If you were on the pill how did this happen?" That was a logical question.

"I don't remember forgetting to take the pill even once. This is weird. I don't know." Lily was exhausted by all the questioning.

"Well that means my boys are still as good as they were in the past. They won against science!" Rufus held both their arms in the air in sign of victory.

"Yeah, you wish! There's got to be a better explanation." Lily laughed.

"I don't care, It's just the most beautiful unexpected thing that could have ever happen to us. Isn't it?" Rufus leaned down and kissed her.

"Yes, it is." Lily said against his lips. Rufus deepened the kiss. The two started their making out session, which was suddenly interrupted by Lily who asked "So how do you think the kids are going to react to this? I mean Serena and Jenny are going to freak the hell out."

"They can say or do whatever they want, I'm not going to care anyway. This is our time and we are going to enjoy every single moment of it. You hear me?" He kissed her again.

"Yes, I'm with you on this one." She broke the kiss and smiled at him.

"A baby….wow!" Rufus was giggling at the thought of a little toddler running around the house. Finally Rufus and Lily were starting to feel the excitement for this unplanned pregnancy and letting the scary thoughts drift away for awhile.

"I know! And finally this time we are going to raise him or her together." That was the true reason behind Lily being so stubborn about keeping the baby. She wanted to give Rufus what she and her mother took away from him 21 years ago.

"I could not ask for more. I feel so blessed to have you in my life Lily. I'm the luckiest man on Earth!" He cried with happiness.

"Looks like you have a sparkle in your eyes honey. You do look like the luckiest man on Earth. And I'm just overwhelmed with happiness to bring your child into this world. I love you Rufus." She placed an hand on his face caressing his cheek.

"I love you too." They kissed some more until the doctor came in to talk to them.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey. We wanted you two to have some privacy before giving this to you, but here it is. May I introduce your baby to you?" He said leaning towards them with an ultrasound picture in his hand. "Oh God!" Lily said before starting sobbing as she took the picture in her hand.

"Wow! I can't see where the baby is in here, but just knowing he or she is somewhere in this picture is giving me shivers." Rufus sounded so excited.

"Here Mr. Humphrey. Look here. It's pretty small, but you're just five weeks pregnant, so It's reasonably impossible to notice the baby on the picture. I showed you the spot where the baby will start to show up in the next ultrasound pictures."

"Wow!" Rufus was overwhelmed.

"So I am five weeks along?" Lily asked still looking at the picture in her and Rufus' hand.

"Yes, We found out about your pregnancy after we did some tests on you to make sure everything was fine with you." The doctor nodded.

"I was on the pill, so I was pretty sure something like this was not going to come my way." Lily stated with a big smile on her face, she really didn't care about the suddenness of her pregnancy now.

"Well people tend to forget to take it once in awhile. It happens." Dr. Bennet smiled at her.

"I'm not among those, trust me." Lily stated.

"Pills are not effective if you vomit or have diarrhea during the next 5 hours after the assumption also." The doctor was trying to explain to the couple all the possible reasons behind the pill's ineffectiveness.

"Oh…I see. Didn't know about that." It all suddenly came to Lily.

"So when did it happen then?" Rufus asked curiously.

"I guess after Blair's birthday party. I got sick because of those stupid cookies in the shape of Blair's shoes." Lily's mouth dropped open. Everything was crystal clear now. She got a bad stomach ache during Blair's party.

"Wait, I didn't know you got sick that night." Rufus acknowledged.

"Well It's not like I was dying Rufus, I only had a really bad stomach ache." She reassured him putting one hand on his shoulder.

"Guess the mystery is solved then." The doctor stated. "About your decision, I know it is none of my business, but Mrs. Humphrey are you sure you want to keep this baby? It's not going to be an easy journey. You will have to be constantly monitored and probably take some medications because of radiations. Do you feel up to it?"

"Absolutely. I have no doubt in my mind. My husband and I agree." Lily looked into Rufus' eyes as she answered the doctor.

"I already explained my point of view as a doctor to you, but I suggest you to think about it some more." Dr. Bennet said, "Make sure that this is what you really want".

"There's no need to. We want this baby and we are going to have this baby." Rufus said taking Lily's hand into his.

"I can only wish you the best then. Mrs. Humphrey you're going to be discharged the day after tomorrow anyway. You will have to come back a couple of weeks later to take those stitches off."

"Oh, thank you so much." Lily smiled at him, relieved to be able to leave the hospital soon.

"Yes, thank you doctor." Rufus echoed.

"You are very welcome." He shook hands with both Lily and Rufus and left the room.

"It's gonna be ok, Lil. We've been through so much, this is just another battle to win together." He kissed her hand.

"I know….I'm a little concerned because of all the negativity the doctor brought into this room. I have no intention to consider an ab….I can't even say it." Lily sighed looking away to hide the tears in her eyes.

Rufus took her face in between his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. "I am here. I am not going to leave you even for a second. Got it?" Lily nodded in response and threw herself at him hugging him so tightly she took his breath away. Rufus rested his forehead on her shoulder taking a deep breath. "So…." Rufus pulled away. "It is hard to remember what happened that night before we got back home for me." He wanted to change subject and cheer his wife up somehow. Thinking about how bad that situation could have turned in a blink of an eye was not healthy for Lily or the baby either. "My memory has recorded what happened after only."

"Well If I recall well we got back home and found that sweet surprise Dan made for us."

"Oh right….the surprise! Forgot about that. It's before the part of the night I recorded." They both laughed thinking back to the night they conceived their baby.

_Rufus took his wife into his arms, leaning her down on her back while kissing her passionately. He broke the kiss, they locked eyes and in less than a minute they were already half dressed in their bedroom. "Since Eric is still awake I would say let's try not be nosey." Lily said against Rufus' lips while unbuttoning his pants. _

"_I have a better idea." Rufus took Lily into his arms and picked her up walking towards their bathroom. _

"_What do you have in mind Humphrey?" Lily laughed._

_Rufus put her down in the shower, still holding her tight to his body with his right arm and turned the tap to the left pushing her under the running water. "Rufus!" Lily screamed. Her dress was already wet. "My dress! My Louboutins!" She tried to take the dress and the shoes off to reduce the damages, but it was too late. Rufus was laughing hysterically at his wife who was in a frenzy. Lily glanced at him and pulled him into the shower, he still had his pants and shoes on. She turned the tap to the right and cold water hit Rufus on his back. "Lily!" He screamed like he was about to die due to instantaneous cold. "Now we're even. And I think a cold shower will be very useful for you tonight since you ruined my dress and my shoes." She stated making her way out of the shower, trying to hide her will to laugh. "You think?" Rufus said and grabbed her arm taking her back into the shower and pushing her against the shower's wall on her back. "What now?" Lily smirked. "Nothing, I just wanted to wet your Victoria's Secret lingerie too. So I basically wasted 50.000 dollars in less than 5minutes." _

_He brought his face right to hers and looked down at her lips, then bit her bottom lips softly and sucked it tasting her sweetness. Lily slowly moved her mouth and slipped her tongue into Rufus' mouth. Her hands were slowly moving up and down his smooth back. Rufus placed one hand on Lily's neck and unzipped her dress, which fell to the ground leaving her only in her panties and wet Louboutins. "I guess I've never been more happy to ruin a gown or a pair of shoes." Lily said smirking. Then she leaned down to take her shoes off. After kicking _

_them off she moved her hands along Rufus thighs and rested one of them on his frontal region, pushing his already unbuttoned pants down to the floor. Lily, still flexed, lifted her face up, locking eyes with her husband. She smirked and pulled Rufus' boxes down with arousal. She got on her knees and started pecking kisses on him, teasing him with her tongue. Rufus was getting more aroused with every passing second. "Lil…" He moaned as she took him in her mouth, his hands tangled in her now messy hair. Lily knew how to make a man feel like a man, all thanks to her experience in the market. Her mouth, her tongue, were unquestionably showing Rufus how much adoration she felt for him. His loud moans were only giving her more pleasure as she moved her mouth around him, back and forth. As he felt he was close, he made Lily stand up and held her tight in her arms. Lily placed an hand on his erection and Rufus came right away screaming her name out loud. They started kissing again, Rufus massaging Lily's breasts with his hands. He leaned down and kissed them sucking on them a little. Lily moaned loudly, the thought of Eric hearing them couldn't be further from her mind. Then Rufus moved both their bodies under the hot water. Rufus took off what was left of her outfit and tossed it to the shower floor. Even if her makeup was not waterproof, to Rufus, Lily looked so beautiful with her wet hair falling down on her shoulders now that her bun was definitely ruined. Rufus took a deep breath and looked at Lily's body. "Gosh…sometimes I think you are a vision. It's like I'm scared this is a dream and I'll have to wake up soon." _

"_This is not a dream….and even if It was it'd be my dream too." She kissed him gently on the lips. Rufus grabbed a bottle of talcum shower gel and squeezed some of it on his hands. Then he made Lily turn around and massaged her shoulders and back . "You are better than Paul. I think I'm going to dismiss him." Lily said enjoying her husband soft touch."No you're not. He's the ugliest masseur in Manhattan, do you know how long it took me to find him?" He laughed. "I thought you introduced him to me because he was good at his job." Lily _

_smirked."He's not that bad, plus I had to be good at my job, which is keeping all the good looking men away from my gorgeous wife." He said squeezing her butt lightly."I am very disappointed Humphrey. I thought your job was…." She turned around. "of another kind." And leaned toward him licking his neck all the way from his _

_collarbone to his left ear."Well….what can I say? I'm multitalented." He said pulling Lily closer to him. "Really? Show me then, Mr. Multitalented." She started to stroke him forcefully. "You like teasing me, don't you?" He said trying to stop a moan from escaping his mouth."I love it!" She bit her bottom lip. "That's it Mrs. Humphrey. You have gone too far." He said placing his hands on Lily's waist and picking her up. Her back was against the tiled wall, her legs wrapped around Rufus' waist. He started kissing her on her neck, licking the concavity between her shoulder and her neck. Lily moaned tangling her other hand in Rufus' wet hair. Rufus' hands were still on Lily's hips to keep her up. Water was falling all over them, making their bodies even smoother and letting them sashay even better. Rufus and Lily kissed, their tongues moving rhythmically together. "You know what? I'm pretty sure you could keep me up without even using your hands, Rufus is this going to take long?" She broke the kiss. "I like teasing too Lily." Rufus grinned at her. Lily wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing her body closer to Rufus', if that was possible. Then she took his ear lobe in her mouth biting it and sucking it. She then moved her mouth closer to Rufus' lips and softly blew. Rufus disclosed his lips and Lily slipped her tongue into the gap. The water falling over their heads gave both their mouth a different taste than the usual one, but that new feeling made them want more of each other. Rufus was too aroused now to keep on teasing her. He broke the kiss, looked into her eyes and abruptly entered her and whispered into her ear "Happy first anniversary baby.". Lily threw her head back resting it against the wall crying his name out. It really was a happy first anniversary now. Rufus moved one of his hand from her waist to the back of her neck pushing her head down to meet his lips. Water was washing away their sweat. As Rufus started to move up and down inside of her Lily placed both her elbows on Rufus shoulders, tangling her hands into his hair, moving her hips rhythmically to meet his husband thrusts. Lily straightened her back throwing her head back as Rufus' tongue was moving in circular motion around her breast. Lily's moans were so loud they covered the sound of the water falling on their bodies and on the floor. Rufus moved Lily away from the tailed wall, placing his hands on her ass to help himself guiding into her more firmly. Lily wrapped her legs around his waist even tighter, her hands were all over his body. She moaned loudly as Rufus quickened the pace. It was incredible how strong Rufus proved her to be, taking all her weight on him, without even resting her partially against the wall. It really seemed like he was carrying a feather and not his wife. Lily was impressed, even if she knew her baby would have never disappointed her when It came to this. "Oh God!" Lily closed her eyes as Rufus almost pulled himself out of her and then entered her again. Lily reached for his lips, desperately trying to show his husband how good it was to feel him inside of her. Rufus kissed her back tasting her mouth. He knew his wife's body so well and he hit just the right spot to make her scream in pleasure, forcing her to part their mouths. "Rufus!" She moaned trying to catch her breath. "Lil…oh baby!" Lily leaned down and kissed him hard again, pressing her hips down on him. Rufus intertwined his tongue with hers. He pushed even harder up this time and brought her back to the initial position, pressing her back to the wall. Water was falling over them again, making it hard for them both to breath. They looked at each other, no words were needed, the smell of their bodies and the sparkle in their eyes _

_were already speaking their mind. Lily kissed her husband neck tasting the flavor of his sweaty and wet skin. In that moment nothing tasted better to her than Rufus. "You taste so good!" She groaned. Rufus moved some of her hair off her shoulder and sucked at her smooth skin, biting her a little. Lily moaned has he started massaging her left breast again and taking the right one into his mouth a couple of seconds later. "Fuck! You test too good Lil!". Rufus felt he was close, and from the expression on Lily's face, she was close too, so he thrusted a few more times helping himself to reach his goal by grabbing his wife's clit with two fingers, massaging and stroking it. As Lily felt Rufus slowly touching her, she lost her breath. It was so good, he was so good that she instinctively tried to close her legs, hitting Rufus' hips with her knees, so that he could never put an end to that pleasure. Lily closed her eyes and threw her head back. As she did so Rufus smirked, he knew his wife too damn much and was very proud of it, just watching her being so pleasured by him was enough to make him come. They both screamed God name as they came at the very same time. Lily opened her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear "Thank you. Happy first anniversary to you too". They both were breathing heavily. Rufus smiled and pecked a kiss on her neck, then still holding her up he brought her out of the shower and placed a towel on her back. Lily unwrapped her legs and slowly let him slid out of her. Rufus put her down and wrapped the towel around her entire body this time. Then he kissed her passionately taking her face into his hands. "I love you." He broke the kiss to look into her eyes. "This past year has been the most amazing one of my entire life Lil, I just have no words to express how grateful I am to have you back in my life". Lily kissed him briefly on the lips."I know how you feel, because that is exactly how I feel too. I could never feel more love for you. I adore you. I love every inch of your body, every defect of yours…everything you are." She said with teary eyes. Rufus hugged her and pressed her body against his chest. "For the first time in my life I feel complete Lil. Just the thought of being able to be inside of you or to hold you in my arms like this makes me feel complete, like I have achieved everything I've longed for in my life." She raised her head up and smiled at him. "Just so you know I'm never going to take a shower without thinking back to tonight ever again." Rufus laughed. "Well I'm flattered, even if that was not exactly our first time in the shower, or the second either."_

"_I know, It just felt more special tonight. We had something to celebrate, right?" She bit her lip. "I think we should celebrate every day we get to spend together like this." Lily laughed and kissed him again wrapping around him the big towel she had on, forcing their body to touch each other again. "Round two?" Rufus smirked _

_placing his hands on her dry back. Lily nodded and they walked out of the bathroom towards their king size bed._

"Well… I guess now we know It wasn't my fault and neither should you take credit. Thank God for the last thing, I could already see you hanging around with the kid telling him or her how good his/her daddy was to get mommy pregnant by beating down Science's walls." They both laughed.

"Daddy was sure good at sending mommy over the moon that night. I'll be more than satisfied to tell him or her just that." Rufus said proud.

"Don't you dare! I want to have a normal kid for once, who doesn't need therapy because of you giving away details on our sex life." Lily pointed at him.

"Well If It's a boy I'm sorry but I'll have to, he will need to learn some of his daddy's moves." Rufus laughed.

"Stop it!" Lily laughed covering her mouth with her hand.

"So…It was our first anniversary that night." Rufus leaned down looking deeply into her beautiful eyes.

"Guess we gave each other the most amazing anniversary gift my love." Lily nuzzled her nose against his.

"Yes we did. Remind me to call Blair tomorrow and thank her for those powerful cookies." Rufus joked. They both laughed out loud.

"I love you Rufus….I really do." Lily rested her forehead against his chin.

"And I love you, with all my heart." Rufus kissed the top of her head. Then he sat down on her bed, taking her into his arms, Lily leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. They both thought back of that magical night, it really had been the best anniversary they could ever wish for.


	7. Chapter 7  Big baby news

Jenny and Dan arrived at the hospital, Serena Eric and Rufus were already there waiting for them in the lobby. Before taking them to see Lily, Rufus took his kids to the Cafeteria to talk things out. Both Jenny and Dan apologized profusely for taking Alison's side without hesitation. Rufus was still hurt, an apology was not enough, not after what happened to Lily the day before. Jenny was still shocked for what her mother did though, so Rufus found himself unexpectantly comforting her. Dan was still ashamed of himself for the way he treated his stepmother and talked to his father about his feelings. Rufus suggested that he apologize to Lily, she would understood for sure. They discussed what to do regarding the custody case and both Jenny and Dan agreed with Rufus that Lily should press charges against Alison for what she did to her, that done Rufus would win the custody battle for sure. They went back into the lobby after their talk and headed into Lily's room alongside Eric and Serena.

"Hi!" Jenny tried to smile entering the room first. She ran to Lily's side and hugged her.

"Hi Jenny, hi Dan." Lily hugged Jenny back.

"It's so wonderful to see you Lily, you scared me to death." Dan leaned down and hugged her too.

"I know." She smiled at them.

"So how are you? Is everything ok?" Dan asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. They just gave me some stitches and something for my headache." Lily answered.

"Good. I have to say I'm relieved."

"Is this all you need to say Dan?" Rufus asked him with a paternal tone.

"No, I wanted to apologize to you Lily. I really felt horrible for what I said to you and about you that day. I shouldn't have put all the blame on you for the issues my parents were having." By the look on his face Dan was undoubtedly sorry.

"Dan It's ok, I accept your apology." Lily smiled again.

"Thank you, you scared me a lot yesterday." He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"I can assure you It was not my plan to get hit and rushed to the ER and everything." Lily laughed.

"I feel terrible. I still can't believe my mom hit you Lily. She's sick." Jenny said placing her hand on Lily's hand and squeezing it.

"I know." She smiled at her stepdaughter.

"So you guys, we really have to tell you something. Something extremely important." Rufus said placing his hand on Lily's shoulder.

"That we do." Lily echoed.

"What is it?" Eric asked concerned.

"Well….apparently we are going to pay regular visits to doctors from now on." Lily smirked at Rufus.

"What? Why? Are you sick again? Mom please tell me it isn't so." Serena was getting anxious.

"No, your mother is not sick. Thank God." Rufus was giggling.

"Then what is it?" She asked again.

"Well…." Lily started.

"Guys please, tell us what's going on." Jenny begged impatiently.

"Uhm….I am…Rufus and I….uhm…..we're expecting a baby." Lily let it out.

"Oh boy!" Eric exhaled rolling his eyes.

"Oh my God!" Dan looked shocked at his dad.

"I cannot believe it! You are pregnant mom? With Rufus?" Serena enquired astonished.

"Serena!" Lily cried.

"I was kidding...sort of. I mean I'm surprised. This is…." She was out of words.

"Huge?" Dan finished the sentence for her.

"Thank you!" Serena nodded at her step brother.

"Yes, it's huge but we are very very happy it happened." Rufus said looking down at Lily.

"Skipping the 'making of' part, were you trying to have another kid? I mean It's not like you don't have a bunch already." Dan said.

"No Dan, it was totally unplanned. We weren't thinking about having another child at all." Rufus smiled excited.

"So this just..uhm… happened?" Jenny asked with a laugh.

"Yes Jenny, these kind of things happen when you have…." Rufus answered her with annoyance.

"Stop it!" Eric cried. "You two seriously want me to join Serena at the Ostroff Center, don't you?" The teenage boy had a point. They all laughed aloud at the expression Eric had on his face.

"No we don't my darling, you know Rufus. He likes teasing and making fun of you."

"Yes…and It's not the only thing he likes as we can see." Eric rolled his eyes. All the kids had disgusted facial expressions, then Serena told her brother. "Come on Eric, give them a break."

"So? None of you is congratulating us. Aren't you ok with this? You're going to have a little brother or sister to spoil in 8 months, isn't it exciting?" Lily grinned.

"You're right mom. I'm very happy for you and Rufus and for this family too." Eric walked over to Lily and kissed her cheek.

"Yes, congratulations dad!" Dan hugged Rufus and then Lily.

"I don't know what to say….I'm almost 21 years old. I mean….it's gonna be weird to have a little brother or sister so much younger than me. I'm a little shocked." Serena explained.

"I know what you mean Serena, I'm going to have a baby to take care of after 17 years from the last one I had. It scares me, but in a good way." Lily omitted the possible CT damages to the baby part of the story.

"We're going to be good. It will be like riding a bike again after so many years, you remember how to ride it the instant you jump back on it." Rufus smiled and then kissed the top of Lily's head softly, trying not to hurt it any more than it already was.

"Dad is right, besides you were wonderful with Milo, remember?" Dan recalled.

"Yes." She smiled thinking back.

"Seems like you Humphreys have a thing for unexpected pregnancies." Serena stated.

"Well…." Rufus tried to find words.

"Just kidding Rufus." Serena slightly punched him on his arm.

"Congratulations!"She cried in excitement. "It's gonna be weird to see you pregnant again, but I'm going to be there for you every step of the way mom. I love you." She leaned down and hugged her mom, then did the same with Rufus.

"Jenny?" Eric asked waiting for his step sister to congratulate them too.

"I have only one thing to say: If It's a girl you'll have to name her after me." Jenny joked. They all laughed.

"Come here." Rufus opened his arms to hug her.

The kids left after an hour later, after a long discussion about possible baby names. They all looked so excited to have a little brother or sister in less than 9 months. Even Jenny and Serena couldn't stop giggling at the thought of a little toddler running around the house driving Rufus and Lily crazy. After they left to go back home and back to the Ostroff Center, Rufus decided to stay with his wife a little longer. He really didn't want to leave her alone.

"Well that was…." Rufus began to say.

"Great!" Lily completed.

"I thought they were going to give us a hard time, but they didn't. I'm so relieved." Rufus grinned sitting on a chair next to Lily's bed.

"I know what you mean. They are going to be amazing older brothers and sisters." Lily's expression suddenly became more serious.

"What's wrong Lil?" Rufus asked squeezing her hand.

"Nothing….It's just that….we skipped on the 'this baby could be ill and this pregnancy could be very difficult for me' part." She sighed.

"I know. We both decided it was just not the right time to give them both good and bad news at the same time. We'll tell them the truth once you get back home." Rufus comforted her.

"Yeah….Maybe It was for the best. It would have been too much to handle."

"Exactly. They already need some getting used to the fact they are going to have another sibling soon, we couldn't tell them about the bad consequences we might face." Just thinking about what could happen made Rufus sick in his stomach.

"Yes, I know. We'll tell them when the time is right." She forced a smile.

"We only have Cece and Scott left to inform." Rufus announced proudly standing up and placing a hand on his hip.

"Oh God! Not my mother Rufus. She's not going to spare us a lecture." Lily begged him.

"I know, but sooner or later we're going to have to tell her."

"Well once the baby starts talking we'll let him introduce himself to his lovely Grandma. Deal?" Lily made an effort at least.

"No." Rufus Laughed. "I had to call her to tell her you're at the hospital. She's coming to New York to spend the holidays with us. You have to tell her before your baby bump will."

"Fine." She pouted. "Let's just call Scott first." Rufus gave her his cell phone and briefly kissed her lips.

A couple of days later Lily was out of the hospital, resting at home just as the doctor prescribed. Rufus was taking care of her all day long, he was so sweet Lily felt like she was taking advantage of the situation. The kids were very caring too, Eric was helping Rufus taking care of her and Serena was constantly texting her. Even Jenny and Dan were trying to stay as close to her as they could to make it up to her somehow, even though she already forgave both of them. Lily was pretty annoyed to be forced to stay in bed not able to take care of her business at Bass Industries or of her social life. She knew it was all for her own good and for her baby's health. It was a new day, but the thought of her staying in bed for another 24 hours made her tired already. The sun was shining outside and it was a beautiful fall morning in NYC. Lily wanted to go out and take a walk in Central Park. As she was planning to convince Rufus to take her out, he entered the room. "Good Morning beautiful." Rufus was holding a tray with breakfast and some flowers on it.

"Hey." Lily said turning her face to him, as he came in.

"So, today we have orange juice, you need vitamin C, waffles, pancakes, muffins, fresh fruit and some milk, they say pregnant women need calcium more than anything else. And because you are the most amazing pregnant woman in the world, I asked Vanya to buy some flowers for you" Rufus said putting the tray down on her nightstand.

"Thank you." Lily smiled. "You didn't have to, you know that."

"I'm in a good mood this morning." He grinned.

"May I ask you why?" Lily asked taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Well Joshua just called. Alison backed off. She doesn't want full custody of Jenny anymore." Rufus was so happy and relieved it was finally over.

"Well, this is such good news!" Lily smiled ecstatic. Then lifted her head up to meet his husband's lips.

"I just called Jenny to let her know. Allison already called her to inform her yesterday night. I am just so relieved this stupid battle is over. I couldn't go through it with what is going on with you and the baby, you know?" He said placing the waffles plate in her free hand. Lily nodded in response. "So now we need to have her pay for what she did to you. Joshua told me there's a dear friend of his who is a criminal attorney, that could help us out. I think the first thing to do is press charges against her for bashing you."

"I'm not interested in doing that" Lily stated.

"What?" Rufus asked surprised.

"I am not going to press charges against her. I'm just not." Lily didn't want to start a discussion about Alison, not again.

"What? Why? I told you both the kids and I agreed to it. It's the right thing to do. She could have sent you into coma that day or made you lose our baby." Rufus was trying to convince her.

"I know Rufus, do you think I haven't thought about that?" Lily's irritation was getting growing fast.

"So why are you bailing out now?"

"I'm not. I just don't want to see Alison's face ever again. Not even in court. Is that too much to ask?" Her tone was getting higher.

"No, I just thought we were going to punish her for what she did to you. That's all. If you don't want to go ahead with it, I'm fine with that. Whatever you decide."

"I want her out of our lives. I want her to stay away from me and from our baby." Lily was still furious at Alison even if she tried to hide her anger In front of Rufus and the children.

"I promise you she will never interfere in our lives again. I will take care of it." Rufus kissed her forehead.

"I know, I didn't mean to sound so harsh. It's just….Oh I don't know."

"Guess you're a little moody, It's normal during pregnancies, Alison used to be a pain in the ass while she was expecting…." He stopped as Lily's face turned livid. "No Alison in this house anymore. Got it." Rufus kissed her temple.

"I find it hard to believe she gave up on everything like that. I mean she was truly going for it. I don't trust her, I don't believe that she really backed off."

"Joshua said her attorney suggested that she give in, otherwise she would have lost Jenny for sure."

"Yeah, like she did nothing so bad to lose her daughter other than submitting papers to court to have full custody." Lily said with sarcasm.

"Lily I know why you are mad and upset and everything, but if you don't want to press charges against her then I suggest we just don't talk about her ever again." Rufus was getting annoyed now.

"That is kind of impossible since you have two children with her." Lily wanted to remind him of that particular detail which Rufus seemed to have erased from his memory.

"Two children that are not willing to have any contact with her, at least for now." He added.

"And should I be happy about it?" Lily was surprised by how Rufus was trying to make things look normal.

"I don't know, I kind of feel better knowing they won't speak to her at least for now." Indeed Rufus was kind of relieved he had won over Alison on that front.

"She kidnapped Jenny, hit me, she's crazy Rufus! I will never trust a word that comes out of her mouth e-v-e-r a-g-a-i-n." Lily spelled the last two words as if she had Alison standing in front of her. That woman was her worst enemy after what had happened.

"There will be no need to Lily. I told you she's out of your life. And as soon as Jenny turns 18 she will be out of mine too. At the moment we share custody of her, even if Jenny doesn't want to have anything to do with Alison." Rufus brushed some hair behind Lily's ear.

"That's not what you said a couple of minutes ago. Now she's out of MY life, but not out of yours? You know what? I don't want to discuss it anymore. I have to make a few calls, if you could give me some privacy, that would be great." Lily took her phone from her nightstand and started to type on the keyboard. Rufus looked at her. "I thought you would be happy to know she dropped the case and left us in peace." Then disappointed made his way to the door.

"Peace? What kind of peace is that? Our baby could be sick and I have to live with this fear everyday" She screamed starting to cry. Rufus stopped and turned around. Lily threw the plate with the waffles she was holding in her hands to the floor, breaking it in hundreds of pieces. Then turned around and buried her face into her pillow, sobbing hard. Rufus walked towards their bed and laid down next to her. He turned her around on her back and took her in his arms. Lily wrapped her arm around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, letting warm tears fall on his shirt. Rufus started kissing the top of her head multiple times stroking her hair with his left hand and holding her tight to him with the other. They were both scared to lose the baby or for him or her to be ill. Rufus was worried too, but he knew his concern was nothing compared to the fear Lily had to live with every day since she was the one carrying the baby. When Lily stopped sobbing and lifted her flushed face up, Rufus kissed her on the lips gently. They locked eyes for a moment, then Lily spoke "I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated. Being here in this bed all day long, thinking about this baby every minute of everyday….It's exhausting." Rufus nodded at her and said "I get it. I understand where that came from. You know what? I'll get you out of here today. We'll go have coffee somewhere later. Ok?" He smiled stroking some hair from her forehead.

"Sounds good." Lily grinned.

"But you have to promise me you'll get all the rest you need when we get back, ok?"

"I promise." Lily nodded.

"Do you want me to make you some more waffles? You didn't really eat the ones on the floor." Rufus asked looking at the remains of the plate on the parquet.

Lily grinned and brushed her lips against his. "No, don't bother. I still have my muffins and pancakes. And by the way, I'm already going to gain a lot of weight, could you please stop cooking like there's an army living in this house? I couldn't eat that much even if there were triplets in my belly!" Lily laughed placing one hand on her belly. Rufus laughed too and said "Ok, fair enough." He leaned his left hand out and grabbed a muffin from the tray nearby Lily's side of the bed, Lily opened her mouth and let her husband feed her. "This is so good!" She said with her mouth full. Rufus smiled and kissed her forehead. It had been a good morning after all.

After they had a cup of coffee they took a walk through Central Park, Rufus insisted they go back home afterwards, even if it was still noon it was pretty cold outside. Lily checked the messages on her answering machine and found one message from her gynecologist. She called Rufus and as he came out of the bathroom at once: "My doctor left me a voice mail. She wants to perform a transvaginal ultrasound on me."

"What is it exactly?" Rufus was perplexed.

"Well it's a type of pelvic ultrasound. I called her yesterday, explaining my situation. Now she called back advising me to have one performed on me to monitor the growth of the baby and to be sure things are ok so far."

"If she suggested you to do it, then let's do it." Rufus was up for anything that would help them find out of everything was fine with their baby.

"I'm scared Rufus." She sighed placing a hand on her belly and looking down at it.

"Lily." Rufus walked towards her and hugged her. "Sooner or later we're going to have to face the truth. So I say better sooner than later."

"What if the baby is not growing as he should? What if something is wrong?" Lily wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Try to be positive. We'll think about that when the time comes, ok? Just don't think about it until then." He pulled out and kissed her cheek.

"Yes, you're right." She said pulling him in for another hug.


	8. Chapter 8  Bad baby news

Lily decided to make an appointment with her gynecologist for after the holidays, so that she would spend the holidays focusing on the other kids around them, celebrating. Avoiding the thought of the ultrasound was not as easy as she thought, but having Rufus' support and care was definitely helping. When the day came, Lily was very anxious. She didn't sleep the night before. Rufus woke up more than once during the night due to her continuous turning back and forth in the bed. So he decided to say up too and canoodled her until morning in his arms. Lily entered the room first, doctor Lindsey Pratt had been Lily's gynecologist for a long time now. She asked Rufus to wait outside while she prepared Lily for the ultrasound. Rufus waited patiently outside until she called him in. He entered the room while the doctor started performing the ultrasound on Lily moving a probe inside of Lily's vagina. Lily felt pretty uncomfortable, it wasn't exactly a painless experience, even if the doctor promised it would be. Rufus didn't know what to do and squeezed Lily's hand smiling at her. The doctor showed them a little spot on the screen after zooming in on the image. There it was their baby. Then all of a sudden she turned the volume on and Rufus and Lily heard their baby's heartbeat for the very first time. Lily was crying with joy, while Rufus was totally in shock. It was just the most amazing sound in the world. Lily stroke Rufus hand and looked at his teary eyes. They both smiled at each other excitedly. "Well, by the look of it, Lily the baby is fine. He or she is growing perfectly, you are 9 weeks along, so I can reassure you everything looks alright with the baby."

"Thank God!" Lily cried. Rufus leaned down and kissed the top of her head relieved.

"On the other hand, I'm noticing a problem with placenta." The doctor stated, looking deeply into the screen.

"What do you mean?" Rufus asked concerned.

"It's too early to say, but I think you're going to suffer from the placenta previa disease." The doctor stated trying to take a better look at her uterus.

"What is it?" Lily was freaking out now.

"Placenta previa is a complication of pregnancy in which the placenta grows in the lowest part of the uterus and covers all or part of the opening to the cervix. I have to tell you a low-lying placenta is very common in early pregnancies, so I don't know If as the pregnancy progresses, the growing uterus will pull the placenta toward to the top of the womb or not. By the third trimester, the placenta should be near the top of the uterus, leaving the opening of the cervix clear for the delivery."

"I'm not a doctor but it doesn't sound good. What if it doesn't move, pull or whatever it is?" Rufus was now breathing heavily.

"Lily will have symptoms such as vaginal bleeding or even haemorrhage. The biggest risk is that severe bleeding will require your baby to be delivered early, before major organs, such as the lungs, have developed." The doctor explained taking the probe out of Lily. Lily was out of breath. Rufus astonished asked "I want to know what kind of risks my wife could face."

"I cannot be sure Lily will have to face any of them. We will have to wait till the second trimester to be sure of this kind of complication will really occur in her pregnancy."

"I don't care. I want to know now what we should expect if she happens to have it."

"I'm going to be honest with you both. It's not going to be easy at all. The mother's risks include: haemorrhage, shock and death." Rufus froze and swallowed hard. Lily left Rufus' hand and placed it on her mouth trying to contain herself. Few tears started running down her face. Rufus looked down at her and placed his hand on her shoulder, stroking it. "The baby could be born prematurely, which causes most infant deaths in cases of placenta previa. The baby may lose blood if the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus during labor. The baby also can lose blood when the uterus is opened during a C- section delivery." Lily started to cry hard this time, sobbing loudly. "But we cannot be 100% sure of it till she enters her second trimester, right?" Rufus was trying to focus on the positive half of the doctor's speech."Yes. As I said before many times the placenta moves away from the cervical opening before delivery." She smiled.

"What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Lily said wiping away the tears from her eyes.

"Monitoring of you and the baby should prevent many of the significant damages. Furthermore you obviously need to rest in bed. Anyway we are talking about something that could still not take place Lily. With the next ultrasound we should have a more articulate answer to our questions."

"I already had three children and never suffered anything like this. Why now? Is it because I had cancer?" Lily asked thinking back to her previous pregnancies.

"No, no." The doctor shook her head. "Placenta previa occurs in 1 out of 200 pregnancies. It is more common in women who had many previous pregnancies, women who have their children at an older age and women who have scarring of the uterine wall caused by previous pregnancies or cesareans. And you know you are among those unfortunately Lily."

"I understand." Lily nodded thinking back at the C-section she had to go through to deliver Eric, who was breech baby.

"So, what do we do now?" Rufus asked more worried than ever.

"Just be sure your wife gets all the rest she needs, try to be positive and wait until the next ultrasound. I'll walk you out while Lily gets redressed, so that you can make an appointment for the next ultrasound scan."

"Ok." Rufus glared at Lily and left the room followed by the doctor. Lily got dressed and burst into tears then. She could not believe something so terrible could come their way, why couldn't they be happy without any drama? That was what she kept whispering to herself. After a couple of minutes she grabbed her coat, wiped her face and walked over to Rufus outside. On their way home they barely spoke to each other. Lily was crying in silence, covered by her Tom Ford sunglasses. Rufus was looking out of their limo's window, trying to focus on

what to do to help Lily go through all of that without falling apart. As they arrived home Rufus prepared himself a drink, he surely needed some alcohol. Lily went upstairs to take a bath instead. Them hardly talking to each other in more than an hour, felt so weird. It felt weird not comforting each other. Rufus felt like an ass for not giving Lily the support she needed and deserved in that tough moment, but was scared as hell to lose her or the baby, or even worse both. Lily felt horrible and guilty at the same time, because she had other kids before this one, because she was 43 years old and because Eric was breech at the time. Those were stupid thoughts though, she couldn't feel responsible for such events, maybe she and Rufus weren't meant to raise a child together. With all these thoughts running through her mind she didn't notice Rufus come into the bathroom. She turned around when Rufus spoke her name. "Lily." She tried to smile as she met his eyes, but couldn't do it, so she burst into tears leaning her hand towards him. Rufus took her hand and jumped into the

bath tub, fully dressed, sat down and canoodled next to her. Lily moved a little to make some space for him. Rufus wrapped his arms around her waist and she rested her head on his chest. Lily enfolded him with her arm and with her free hand started to pass her fingers through his soft hair. They didn't say a word to each other, but no words were needed. Lily's tears were dropping in the warm water around them, she was not sobbing anymore, tears were just running down on their own. Rufus placed a hand under the water on Lily's belly and caressed her skin, then said "I swear to God nothing will happen to you and your mommy. We still have a lifetime to spend together, the three of us.". Lily tightened her hold sobbing again. Rufus smelled his wife's perfume from her neck and took a deep breath. How was he supposed to live without her if something were to happen? It was killing him, just the thought of losing her, was giving him physical pain. Lily on the other hand was scared to not be able to continue the pregnancy. Too many complications were coming out of nowhere, she was terrified at the thought of losing the baby or leaving Rufus alone to raise him or her. They remained glued to each other for some time. Then Rufus stood up, helped Lily out of the bath tub and wrapped her in her robe. After taking a quick shower, Rufus watched Lily drying her hair with her blow dryer. They smiled at each other both trying to forget for a moment all their scary thoughts. "I'm going to put some clean clothes on." Lily nodded in response. Later that day they had dinner with the kids, minus Serena who was still at the Ostroff Center. Both Lily and Rufus tried to hide their feelings from the children since they didn't want to scare them with something they were still not absolutely sure would occur. Dan, Jenny and Eric didn't notice anything wrong in their behavior so the dinner went ahead as normally. After declining their invitation to play board games, the couple went upstairs. It had been such a long long day, Rufus was already in bed waiting for Lily to finish her nightly beauty care session, she was applying creams and lotions all over her body, from her feet to her hair. Rufus was looking at her while she was doing so sitting at her vanity, hoping to never have to miss her nightly routine in the future. As she finished applying her body lotion, Lily put on her negligee and went to bed. She put her reading glasses on and grabbed a book from her night stand. Rufus canoodled next to her and buried himself under the covers, it was such a cold January night. Lily smiled at him as he started to caress her belly with his hand and threw her book away, took her glasses off and turned on her left side to take a better look at her husband, placing one hand on his neck and stroking his skin gently. They smirked at each other. "You're very handsome, you know that?" She said kissing him briefly on the lips.

"It has to be that new lamp". Rufus joked pointing a lamp behind Lily's back.

"I don't think so." Lily leaned forward and kissed him again, this time a little bit longer.

"I have a question." Rufus broke the kiss.

"Go ahead." Lily rolled her eyes already knowing what Rufus was about to ask.

"How dangerous could it be for the baby if I make love to you right here right now?" He bit his lip waiting for an answer.

"Uhm….I don't know." Lily laughed.

"Ok." Rufus pouted.

"Honey don't make that face please." Lily begged, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. Their sex life had been put on hold for quite some time now. Oral sex was becoming a little boring now.

"I wonder how on Earth I forgot to ask your gynecologist about that." Rufus was now mad at himself.

"Well, we were more focused on the baby's health." Lily smiled at him stroking his hair.

"Yeah….but not now my mental health is in danger." He sighed. Lily laughed at his joke and kissed his lips. "Lily don't, please." Rufus broke the kiss pushing her back.

"Fine. I suggest we get some sleep then." Lily kissed his forehead and turned on her back. "But you know? We could have had some fun." She smirked at Rufus passing her feet slowly up and down his leg.

"Lily I'm begging you. Stop it!" Rufus was already aroused even if nothing really happened yet. Just the thought of having Lily, which he didn't have for too long now, gave him shivers.

"Goodnight Rufus." Lily laughed switching the light on her night stand off.

"Yeah….whatever!" Rufus said with a low tone. After a couple of seconds he got up and went to take a very cold shower in the bathroom, hoping to find Lily asleep when he returned. As Lily heard the water running she started laughing, rolling in their bed. Rufus was really exhausted by the situation, but she found it funny, even if she was not that alright with it either.

Four weeks had passed since that night. Lily was feeling good, no nausea, no cravings, no morning sickness, her pregnancy was not giving her a hard time at all. Well at least not physically. Rufus on the other hand was a little grumpy, his concern about her and the baby and their not having sex as they wanted made him more depressed as the days went by. Lily was feeling a little guilty for her husband's bad mood, but she couldn't help it, their baby's health came first. In the meantime Serena had been discharged from the Ostroff Centre and finally moved back in with her mother and her brother. Having Jenny and Serena living under the same roof, was kind of a nightmare, but Lily and Rufus were trying to handle the situation in the best way possible. Alison's mess surely brought them closer, but not that much to have Jenny and Serena happy to live together again. Lily was just starting to show a little, all the kids were extremely excited, caressing her belly every time Lily was around them. That day her second trimester check up was scheduled to take place, Lily was nervous, but didn't want Rufus to worry anymore than he already was. During breakfast they had to act like nothing was going on, put a big smile on their face and be normal. Rufus was not very good at it though. "Dad are you ok?" Jenny asked looking at Rufus' plate, seeing as he didn't eat his waffle while they had all finished their breakfasts. That was a clear sign something was wrong.

"What?" Rufus asked taken aback. Lily shot him a look.  
"Ok, what's wrong?" Jenny turned her face to Lily.  
"I don't know. Rufus?" Lily didn't know what to say.  
"Uhm….Everything's fine. We are perfectly fine." Rufus stated faking a smile.  
"Ok, I'm gonna get ready. We don't want to be late at our doctor's  
appointment." Lily said putting down her napkin on the table.  
"Wait, wait. Why are you in such a hurry? You're acting weird." Eric moved his eyes from his mother to Rufus and back.  
"Agree." Jenny nodded swallowing a bite of her pancake.  
"Oh please! We just want to go check on the baby. There's nothing more." Lily smiled getting up. Rufus was clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation and started to clean the table up.  
"Oh God you're going to know the sex of the baby today! That's why they're acting so weird Eric!" Jenny clapped her hands looking at Lily's belly. Lily froze and tried to smile. Rufus was relieved Jenny made an excuse up for them.  
"Really?" Eric asked his mom with excitement.  
"I….I…" Lily stammered.  
"Yes, yes we are." Rufus trailed off lying.  
"This is so cool!" Eric grinned.  
"Can I come with you?" Serena asked thrilled.  
"I don't think that would be a good idea. You have classes this morning, I don't want you to miss one or more." Lily shook her head.  
"Come on mom! I only have two classes. My little brother or sister comes first." Serena was now begging her.  
"Sister, definitely sister." Jenny's tone was sounding a little threatening.

Eric laughed and said "As long as the baby is healty I don't care what the sex will be." Lily winced.

"It has to be a girl. I don't want to have another brother. Plus Jennifer for a baby boy doesn't sound so good." Jennifer rambled on.  
"Oh please stop it! They will never ever name her after you if she's a girl." Serena laughed aloud. Jenny gave her step sister a look.  
"Cool it girls." Rufus advertenced.  
"I'm going to call Dan, maybe he'd like to come too." Serena stood up smiling.  
"Serena, please. This is no big deal. You go to your classes and tonight we will all have dinner together, ok?"  
"Not a big deal? Mom aren't you excited to find out the sex?" Lily's daughter was surprised by how cold Lily was demonstrating herself to be.  
"Yes, but…"Lily was not able to lie that very well that particular morning, which was so not like her.  
"It is something we want to experience together on our own, you know? Don't take it personally Serena, but I never had the chance to be by Lily's side in any of her previous pregnancies. I just want it to be our moment to share." Rufus on the other hand was getting good at it, Lily was an excellent teacher in fact.  
"Oh….I see." Serena turned sad at what Rufus said.  
"Serena, sweetheart..."  
"It's fine mom." She interrupted her mother. "I'll see you tonight at dinner then. 8 o'clock?"  
"Yes, dear." Lily walked towards her and kissed her cheek. Serena leaned down and kissed her mom's belly. "Hey you in there, behave!" Serena talked to it. Lily laughed and went upstairs, Rufus followed behind her.  
"Just try not to act so weird next time Rufus, we could have avoided all of that if only you…." Lily whispered into his ear as they were climbing the stairs.  
"I'm crazy anxious Lil. Please give me a break." Rufus held his hands up.  
"Ok, fine." Lily was kind of upset because they had to lie to the kids once again, but her anxiety was taking over and that came in second place.

Rufus opened the doctor office's door for Lily, letting her walk in first. Dr. Pratt smiled at them and greeted. Lily was very fearful, but Rufus was constantly smiling at her and even though she knew he was just playing a part  
so as to make her feel a little bit less anxious. "So how have the last few weeks been Lily?" The doctor asked pointing to the cot. Rufus helped Lily take her coat off and grabbed her bag. "Good." Lily walked towards it and lied down on her back.  
"So no pain? No bleeding?"  
"No, she rested a lot as just as you prescribed." Rufus said taking his wife's hand into his own.  
"Good. Do you still have morning sickness?" The doctor moved Lily sweater up to chest and unbuttoned her pants, pushing down her underwear a little bit, so that she had more space to perform the sonogram.  
"Actually I didn't have any. I felt a little nauseous sometimes but I never threw up or woke up feeling sick." Lily smiled looking at her little bump. It was growing fast.  
"You have such a cute baby bump." The doctor spread some gel on her belly. Lily groaned as she did so. "I know It's a little cold." The doctor laughed taking the probe in her hand.  
Dr. Pratt turned the monitor on and the speakers up and placed the probe on Lily's wet skin, moving it slowly from side to side. A raced heartbeat started to come out of the speakers, Rufus squeezed Lily's hand smiling. Lily was looking at the monitor on her left excited and scared to death at the same time. After a couple of seconds a tiny figure appeared on the monitor, there was their baby. "Oh God!" Lily cried watching it. Rufus took a deep breath and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Lily lifted her head up and pushed Rufus head down placing an hand on the back of his neck. They closed their eyes and sweetly kissed each other on the lips. Their attention returned immediately to the monitor, the doctor was zooming in and out on the screen and moving the probe at the same time from side to side on Lily's belly. "The baby looks fine. He's growing regularly from what I can see. You are 13 weeks along now."  
Lily let a breath out as she said the baby was fine. "Look here." The doctor pointed to a spot on the monitor. "These are his tiny feet. Can you see them?"  
Rufus took a closer look and grinned. "Oh God this is so amazing." Lily was overwhelmed with joy, she was laughing and crying at the same time.  
"Here we have his hands and tiny arms, and his head." She said zooming in on the screen.  
"I'm speechless." Lily sobbed. Rufus placed Lily's arm around his waist and he placed an arm around her shoulder, holding her tightly.  
"Do you want me to switch to the 3D version?" The doctor asked with excitement.  
"Yes please." Rufus grinned.  
"Oh God, they didn't even make movies in 3D the last time I was pregnant and now they make 3D ultrasounds! I feel so old!" Lily laughed. As she did so they caught the baby jumping a little on the monitor screen. "Look! He moved as you laughed!" Rufus pointed towards the screen super excited. Lily smiled and a tears came running  
down from her eyes. The doctor switched to the 3D mode and they started to see every little detail of their baby, his little closed eyes, his tiny fingers, his small mouth. It was just perfect. The baby was healthy and everything seemed to be in the right place. Lily and Rufus were speechless, looking at that tiny figure on the screen. "Is it too soon to know the sex of the baby?" Lily asked remembering the previous conversation they had had with the kids at home.  
"Well….I cannot be 100% sure until the 16th week, but by the look of it there's no sign of a teeny weeny here." The doctor smiled showing them a particular spot. But even if it was a 3D ultrasound nothing was crystal clear over there.

"So it could be a girl?" Rufus had a smile printed on his face.  
"I would say yes. Just don't buy pink stuff yet, I would wait a month so to have no doubt about it."  
"Aw, a girl!" Lily's eyes were shimmering with tears. Rufus leaned down and kissed her on the lips.  
"Just don't take my word for that, it could turn out that's it's a boy in a month's time." The doctor laughed.  
"Trust me you would have noticed it by now if there was a boy in there. Humphreys…."  
"Rufus!" Lily shot a look at him and then laughed hard alongside her husband and Doctor Pratt. That joyful atmosphere didn't last long though. The doctor started to check if the placenta had moved from the cervix or not. Rufus and Lily couldn't make anything by the look on her face until she spoke up "So, Rufus, Lily, I have a good news and a bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Rufus and Lily looked at each other and then Lily said "The bad news."  
"Ok. I don't want you to freak out, but your placenta didn't move. Right now you're in a complete placenta previa condition, which means your placenta completely covers the opening to your cervix. l need you to be on pelvic rest from now on Lily, which means no intercourse, no tampons, and no douching. Nothing should be placed in the vagina, unfortunately for you both no sex then."  
"This is surely not a problem. I'd do anything for my wife and my daughter." Rufus smiled nonetheless. Deep down inside he was torn apart. Six more months, to say the least, with no sex. Would he be able to hold on for so long? It never happened to him before.  
"A complete placenta previa is more likely to stay that way until the delivery. So I will definitely have to use the C-section procedure on you. This way both you and the baby should be safer." The doctor continued.  
"Even with a C-section could there be risks?" Lily asked concerned.  
"Yes, this kind of complication is one of the most dangerous for both the mother and the baby. But, here comes the good news, you're perfectly healthy. Your uterus is strong and the baby is fine. You had no bleeding so far or pelvic pain, which is great. Just relax, take some rest and we will meet again in a month." The doctor smiled trying to reassure them. "Here" She said handing Lily a napkin to clean the gel from her belly. "I recorded the 3D version of the ultrasound, do you want it to show it to your other children?" She asked taking a dvd out of the ultrasound machine.  
"Yes, thank you." Lily smiled nodding. Rufus helped her get on her feet and then they left. Lily was terrified and extremely happy at the same time. Rufus was just being supportive telling her how happy he was they were going to have a little girl and avoiding to talk about what scared them the most. When they arrived home the kids weren't there, so Lily decided to talk to Rufus about her condition, since he was just passing up the subject. "Rufus." She said wrapping her arms around his arm and leading him to the couch. "Let's sit down and talk things out." Lily sighed. They both sat down. "We have to deal with this pregnancies complications. It's going to be hard, I know that, but I'll do whatever it takes to deliver a healthy baby."  
"I know Lil, I just want you to know I'm here for you and you can count on me."  
"I know. And about what the doctor said about sex….I am sorry Rufus. I know it's hard for you. I don't know what to do, other than feel guilty." Lily blushed a little.  
"Guilty? Are you kidding me? Please! It's not a problem, really. We'll wait till the baby's born. It's not a problem." He stroked some hair out of her eyes.  
"You're lying and you know that." Lily smirked at her husband.  
"I didn't say I'm happy about it, I said It's not a big deal." Rufus was trying to convince himself too.  
"Rufus." She laughed. "Sex has always been a huge part of our relationship. There's no use in denying it now. It's not going to be easy, well for me at least." Lily said whipping her air.  
"I was scared you didn't feel the same way I do." Rufus said embarrassed. "I'm going crazy just thinking of not making love to you!" Rufus spoke his mind freely. Lily laughed and hugged him tight. "But I don't care about not having sex, it will be a good sacrifice for me." As he said so Lily pulled away and kissed him passionately.  
"Ok, about this…." Rufus broke the kiss. "Let's just try to keep it on a low profile. Alright?" They both laughed.  
"Alright. We need to tell the kids the truth, we don't know what could happen. I might lose the baby or I might…."  
"Don't you dare say it Lily!" Rufus cut her off raising his voice. "We're going to tell them the truth. And you will be fine honey. You promised we're in this together till the end, you promised." Rufus was kind of begging her now.  
"We don't know what kind of ending this story will have though." Lily was trying to be honest and realistic.  
"A happy one. With us walking into this apartment holding our baby in our arms." Rufus smiled.  
"Yes, but just in case…."  
"There is no 'just in case' Lil. You hear me?" Rufus almost yelled, he was clearly in a denial phase.  
"Rufus, please." Lily was not capable to handle Rufus refusing to see things for what they were.  
"No." He shook his head and pulled her in for a hug. Lily sighed, tightening the hold around his shoulders. Rufus kissed her neck profusely until she pulled away. Rufus took her face in his hands, Lily's eyes were filling with tears. "I love you. More than ever."

Lily brushed her lips against Rufus' lips. "I love you too, you're the love of my life Rufus. There is only one man in this world I could not live without and that's you. I want you to remember that, because…."

"I remember that and I always will. Always." Rufus leaned in and kissed her again tasting and exploring her mouth with his tongue. Before making them want some more, they stopped kissing and Rufus escorted Lily to bed in order for her to rest a little bit. They both had lunch in bed, cuddling a little and just not thinking about Lily's condition. Lily passed out afterwards in Rufus' arms. He held her close to his body smelling her sweet scent, Lily's arms were wrapped around his chest, her stomach pressed against his right hip. Rufus placed a hand on it and started caressing her belly. He was still amazed by the fact Lily was pregnant with his baby. His heart melted at the thought of having another baby around the house, Lily's baby, their baby. He loved his wife so much and he was surely ready to give up anything for her and their little girl's sake. Inebriated by all those thoughts the happy soon-to-be daddy fell asleep too. Their bodies were tangled with each others, their chests were moving up and down with the very same rhythm, the fear of them losing the baby could not be further from their minds. Nothing would have been able to disturb their dreams as long as they were having them holding one another.


	9. Chapter 9 Baby names debate

Later that day they all had dinner at the penthouse, Rufus cooked his famous chili, although Lily wanted something a little bit lighter and asked Rufus to make chicken soup for her. All through dinner the kids kept on questioning Rufus and Lily about their appointment with the doctor, but they wanted to show them the dvd before getting into that particular conversation. As they finished dinner they all gathered around tv, Lily and Rufus sat on the couch, to watch the dvd. The dvd started and the baby appeared on the screen, it took only seconds for the kids to start showing their excitement. "Mom! This is just the sweetest little thing ever!" Serena said with teary eyes.

"And listen to the heartbeat! Oh God!" Jenny said jumping up and down pointing the TV screen.

"Dad….this is just! I am so happy for you and for all of us!" Dan said placing an arm around his father's houlders.

"How beautiful is it? Thanks for showing us." Eric was grinning like a child in a candy shop. "So is it a she or a he?" Eric asked.

Everybody turned to Lily and Rufus waiting for the answer. "The doctor said she cannot be perfectly sure, cause It's too soon, but it looks like it's a girl." Rufus was smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh my God! That's awesome! I am so happy Dad!" Jenny screamed running towards the couch and wrapping her arms around Rufus and Lily's shoulders at the same time.

"A girl? I need to go shopping tomorrow then." Serena clapped her hands in anticipation and kissed her mother on the cheek.

"Congratulations mom, Rufus. I was hoping for a boy….but I know how to handle a sister." Eric winked at Serena.

"Yes, congratulations." Dan echoed his half brother.

"Thank you kids, let's say we don't want to buy anything until the baby arrives. Plus Serena, darling, the doctor said it could be a girl, not that it is a girl for sure." Lily smiled motivated to stay down to Earth.

"Why are you so superstitious? Why can't we go shopping? I promise we won't buy anything pink. Neutral colors only." Serena was not letting it go.

"No neutral colors, nothing until the baby is born." Lily repeated firmly.

"What? Why?" Serena protested, apparently she was the only one not noticing that something was wrong. Her siblings all turned white in their faces. Lily tried to keep her tears in, but her hands were already shaking and that was another obvious sign that something was really wrong. Lily turned to the right and whispered into Rufus' ear "I can't do it." Then she buried her face between his neck and his shoulder. Rufus brought her closer to him and kissed her cheek.

"You're scaring me." Eric stated looking at his parents.

"Dad?" Jenny was running out of breath.

"Do you want to go upstairs? I'll tell them don't worry." Rufus asked his wife

softly. Serena, Eric, Dan and Jenny were all waiting for an explanation. Lily was crying hysterically, she just couldn't help it. Telling their kids the truth would have made the whole situation seem more real. Rufus was trying to calm her down, stroking her and kissing her, but it was all ineffectual. Serena sat down on the couch beside her mother and gently rubbed her back. Lily tried to gather herself and raised her eyes to look at Rufus. He wiped some tears from her cheeks and kissed her forehead. "I…I am sorry. I didn't want you to see me like this." Lily sighed looking away.

"It's ok, you broke down. It's normal in your situation. I don't want you to get tired or anything, I will talk to them, you go to bed, ok?" Lily shook her head at Rufus.

"Lil…." Rufus insisted looking at his wife.

"No. Just let's get this over with. I can't take this anymore." Lily dried her eyes with her fingertips.

"I don't know what's going on but I'm starting to worry. Dad would you explain to us what the hell happened?" Dan stood up both annoyed and worried.

"Today we had the confirmation that Lily's pregnancy will have some complications." Rufus said looking at Dan.

"What do you mean?" Serena asked without letting him finish.

"She has a disease named Placenta Previa, which means your mother has decided to continue with a very dangerous pregnancy Serena." Every word coming out of Rufus' mouth was hurting Lily like a stab right to her chest.

"Dangerous for who? The baby?" Eric asked nervous.

"Not only the baby." Rufus sighed, his eyes closed.

"What are you trying to say Rufus?" Eric asked again.

"The baby could die during the pregnancy or be delivered prematurely. And Lily could die too if things don't go the way they should." It was out, it was done. The kids knew now.

"Mom!" Serena whispered, hugging her mother from behind.

"I can't believe it." Dan tangled his hands in his hair.

"Lily….Dad…" Jenny had tears in her eyes. "What do we do?"

"Well there is just nothing we can do about it. Lily has to stay in bed and rest and just take care of herself." Rufus shrugged his shoulders.

"Why?" Eric screamed.

"What Eric?" Jenny asked surprised by his reaction.

"Why did you keep the baby?" Eric asked with the same voice tone looking at his mom and then at Rufus.

Lily was shocked by her son's question. Rufus looked at him with surprise. "It was a decision your mother had to make. She wanted to keep the baby, so we didn't end the pregnancy."

"This is ridiculous! Who cares about this stupid baby when I could lose my mom? This is unfair. She cannot die just to bring another life into this world. You already have us mom, please!" Eric all of a sudden started to sob. Lily stood immediately up and walked across the room to get to her son. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. They were both crying. "I don't want anything to happen to you mom. It's not fair." Eric sobbed hiding his face in her arms.

"I know honey, I know." Lily kissed his temple. "I promise your sister and I will be fine." Eric nodded tightening his grip around his mother's waist. Jenny sat down next to her father and rested her head on his shoulder. Rufus kissed her forehead, still looking at Eric and Lily.

"So this is why you didn't want to buy anything for the baby yet." Serena apparently was still confused.

"We just want to be careful. Building a nursery or buying stuff is not our main concern right now." Rufus explained to her.

"What are the symptoms that should warn us in case we are around Lily and something happens?" Dan asked wisely.

"Well she'd start bleeding copiously." Rufus almost chocked at the thought.

"Oh God." Jenny pouted.

"We didn't want to scare you, that's why we kept it to ourselves until today." He was being strong for Lily and the rest of his family, but Rufus was really on the edge of falling apart.

"Isn't there any medication she can take to avoid all of this?" Serena was trying to find a solution for this problem in any way possible.

"Not really. The doctor only prescribed her to rest at home." Rufus shook his head with disappointment.

"Does her previous illness have something to do with it?" She asked remembering her mother had cancer.

"No, It could happen to anybody. You cannot prevent it. At first we were scared the CT radiations that Lily got at the hospital would have harmed the baby, but thank God they didn't." Rufus caressed his daughter's back, trying to console a speechless Jenny.

"Yes, let's thank God today!" Dan said sarcastically.

"It could have been worse for the baby Dan." Rufus glared at him.

"I know, It's just that I don't think we have anything to thank God for today.

Lily could lose the baby and die at the same time. Well done God!" Dan lifted his thumbs up looking at the ceiling.

"I know it's hard to make peace with this, but please kids make an effort at least." Rufus sighed.

"Dad is right. We are here for both of you, just tell us what you want us to do and we will do it." Jenny said looking straight at Lily. She pulled away from Eric and turned around. "I just want you to love this baby, whatever happens to me." The kids all paled and Rufus shot her a look. Lily only wanted her baby to be loved, no matter how much the pregnancy could have harm her. Knowing her kids or her stepchildren could hate the baby she was carrying inside because of her not surviving to the pregnancy, was killing her. "I don't want to hear this kind of talk. You are not giving us this kind of talk mom." Serena walked out of the room, eyes filled with tears.

"Let her go." Eric grabbed his mother's arm as she was going to chase after her daughter.

"Eric is right." Rufus got up and walked towards Lily placing an arm around her hips. "Now that it's all out in the open I just want you to take care of Lily and the baby both. We are going to have this little girl an she will be beautiful and healthy just like her mommy." He kissed her temple smiling. The kids all nodded and gave Lily goodnight kisses. Rufus led her upstairs in their bedroom.

At the time the door was closed, Lily started undressing and looked at herself in her full length mirror. Her baby bump was starting to show from under her clothes, and the puffy look it was starting to give her made her smile. Rufus noticed Lily was touching her belly and staring at its reflection in the mirror and walked towards her, hugged her from behind, placed his chin on her shoulder and caressed her belly with his hand. You look so beautiful!" Rufus whispered into her ear. Lily smiled big and pecked a kiss on Rufus cheek. "I can't wait to hold her in my arms. July is too far away!" Rufus complained grinning at their reflected image in the mirror. "Yeah." Lily nodded wrapping her arms around Rufus's arms. "I want to show you something." Rufus grinned and went to his drawer searching among his clothes for something.

"What?" Lily smiled curiously.

"Give me a sec." He replied, pulling a bunch of stuff out of the drawer. Lily put her robe on in the meantime. "Eureka!" Rufus cried excited.

"Is that what I think it is?" Lily asked irritated looking at what Rufus was holding in his hands.

"Just don't get mad at me. I know what you said about buying stuff for the baby and everything, but technically I didn't buy it. Dan found it at the loft, he bought it before Milo was born. It was a gift to me." Rufus laugh nervously taking a step closer to Lily.

"It doesn't change a thing. I don't want to talk about baby names." Lily said taking the little pink and blue book into her hands.

"Lily…." Rufus started.

"Rufus, 'The baby name wizard', really?" Lily asked reading the title of the book.

"Can we act like a normal couple about to have a baby? Can we please put all the scary thoughts aside for a little bit? Am I asking too much?" Rufus was almost begging her. He was right, all the negativity they were facing was surely not letting them live the pregnancy the way it was supposed to.

"We are not a normal couple Rufus, since we could lose the baby." Lily shook her head and looked down, sadness was taking over her again.

"I know, but could we please, please, please, forget about that for some time and be happy about this baby arriving?" Rufus wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"How could I ever forget about that Rufus?" They stared at each other, both of them trying to find an answer to that question.

"Lily…" Rufus began to say after a couple of minutes. "I am begging you. It's not healthy for you and It's not healthy for the baby all this concern and all this fear….they just never leave your body. Let it go just for tonight." He leaned towards her and kissed her cheek still holding her tight to his body.

"Fine!" She said wriggling from his hold and sitting on their bed. As Lily started to leaf through the pages. Rufus grinned and sat down next to Lily taking her into his arm. Lily got up and sit down on Rufus' lap. Her husband grinned again and kissed her on the shoulder. "Oh God! Look here!" Lily laughed loud.

"Aiza? What kind of name is that?" Rufus laughed along.

"I have no idea." Lily shook her head.

"I like this one." Rufus pointed a name at the top of the page.

"Alicia? It doesn't sound that bad…." Lily smiled. "Oh I love this one! Angelica, it has Latin origins."

"It's cute. Angelica….." Rufus repeated. "it sounds really sweet." He smiled at her.

"Yes and it means 'Of the Angels'. If this baby will come to this world healthy it will definitely be an angel's gift." Lily sighed still looking at the book.

"No sad thoughts." Rufus glanced at her.

"Ok. What about Annabelle?"

"I don't like it at all….too sweet!" Rufus turned the page around. "Here! Crystal." He grinned.

"I know I was a groupie once upon a time, but do you really want our daughter to become a hooker? Cause this name will give her no choice, my love." They both laughed.

"Fine….what about Sophia? Look it's one of the most popular names too."

"It's cute, and I like the meaning too." Lily smiled.

"Oh Gosh! Breezey? Who invented these names?" Rufus said in shock staring at the page of the book.

"I don't know….what do you think about this one? Nirvana!" Lily laughed even harder.

"Yes, then she will definitely follow your footsteps as a groupie. Veto." Rufus joked.

" Aw…Giselle! It has a beautiful sound. Giselle…"

"It reminds me too much of the model, that Giselle Bundchen." Rufus trailed off.

"So now you know top models names?" Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey….I watch the annual Victoria's secret show only to figure out what kind of lingerie would look fantastic on you in order to buy it for you." He tried to spare himself a scene from Lily, somehow.

"Yeah….whatever!" Lily rolled her eyes. "What about Pearl?"

"Pearl? Pearl Harbor…I don't like it, it reminds me of World War II." He shook his head.

"You gotta be kidding me Rufus! We will never choose a name this way and have to name her Jennifer for real." Lily stated annoyed.

"No Jennifer, I could not handle another Jennifer in the house." Rufus had a terrified expression on his face.

"The doctor was pretty sure it's a girl, so you better be prepared for a little Serena/Jenny mix around the house." Lily laughed.

"Oh God….I didn't think about that before. I want to hope those bad genes were inherited from Alison and William. Otherwise God help us!" Rufus brought his head back and looked above.

"Francine?" Lily asked stroking his arm gently.

"Horrible! This one is nice, Matilda." Rufus pointed to the name at the top half of the page.

"Yeah…what about Olive?"

"Yes, I like the meaning above all: 'olive tree'. Good taste mommy." Rufus made fun of her.

"You're so funny!" Lily said with sarcasm.

"Veronica is not bad at all….'victory bringer'. Very nice." Rufus kissed her cheek.

"Not bad, not bad. Here: Kalista. It's greek and means 'most beautiful'. This is sooo cute!" Lily cried with excitement.

"Kalista Humphrey?" Rufus' tone was kind of disgusted.

"Oh so you're sure you're the father! It could be Kalista anything as far as you know." Lily smirked smugly.

"Oh really?" Rufus started tickling her tummy, forcing her to lay down on the bed.

"Rufus!" Lily was laughing hysterically. "Stop it! Please!" Rufus kept on tickling her, this time on the neck. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Ok? It was just a joke." Rufus stopped and kissed her exposed neck.

"Hope you learned your lesson." Rufus said helping her getting up back on his lap.

"I did." She laughed softly, kissing him on the lips. "So what about Kimberly?"

"I like it." Rufus nodded and kissed her again.

"And Kourtney?"

"Do you have a thing for the letter K or just for Kardashians?" Rufus asked with curiosity.

"You're scaring me Rufus, seriously. You are so not going to watch E! ever again." Lily snapped.

"Fine." He pouted. " Jaqueline?"

"Yes….Onassis." Lily laughed. "Elizabeth is very beautiful too."

"It sounds old…." Rufus turned the page Lily was reading.

"Old? You remember you gave Jenny, Tullulah as her middle name, right?" Lily tried her best not to laugh right in his face.

"It was not my choice. I had to agree. So in order to avoid this kind of mistake for the next one, what about Diana?"

"Veto." Lily disagreed.

"We will never find a name." Rufus groaned in frustration.

"We have a few we agreed on." Lily stroked his cheek gently.

"Which are?"

"You liked Alicia and I liked Angelica and Sophia."

"Don't forget Matilda and Veronica." He added pecking a kiss on her lips.

"And Kimberly too." She said before kissing him back briefly.

"Fine." Rufus grunted. "Then we have 6 names picked from."

"Too many even for Upper East Side." Lily laughed.

"We'll talk about it with the kids and see what they say, maybe they'll suggest some names we could like more than these." Rufus smiled leaning forward to meet her lips again.

"Yeah….like Jennifer?" Lily joked making Rufus laugh.

The morning after Rufus was making breakfast while Lily was waiting laid on the couch with a cup of decaf coffee in her hand.

"Grace!" Rufus exclaimed.

"What?" Lily had no idea what Rufus was talking about.

"We haven't thought about Grace as a name for the baby." Rufus explained.

"Rufus I thought that conversation was over." Lily looked away.

"Well it just popped in my mind. What can I do about it?" He smiled innocently.

"I don't want to talk about baby names again, please." The subject was one of the sensitive kind to Lily.

"Baby names?" Jenny said excited walking into the living room followed by Serena.

"So now we can talk about baby names, but I have no permission to do some baby shopping?" Serena protested bringing both her hands on her hips.

"Girls, we were just making some assumptions, nothing more." Lily cut it off.

"So?" Jenny asked waiting for their assumptions to be publicly released.

"So…what?" Lily knew what Jenny was getting at but didn't want to answer her.

"What names have you thought about so far?"

"Well…." Lily started.

"I was thinking about Viviane." But Serena intruded, interrupting her. "It's very popular in French and it sounds so romantic and so sweet." Serena smiled thinking back at her Summer in Paris.

"Viviane? Please! Jennifer is so much better. Why do you hate my baby sister?" Jenny asked with a serious tone whilst Serena was pouring herself some juice.

"Jenny we are not going to name the baby Jennifer, for the last time." Rufus repeated for the hundredth time.

"Fine. Then Tullulah is not bad either." She grinned at him.

"You have so no taste." Eric said coming into the living room with his bag.

"What do you suggest then?" Jenny shot him a look.

"I suggest Felicity." Eric grinned pouring some coffee into his cup.

"Gosh you're so gay!" Jenny laughed pointing her finger at him.

"I have to admit Felicity sucks Eric." Serena took a sip of her juice.

"Then what about Catherine? Erin? Christina? Oh….Emily is just adorable!" Eric started to ramble.

"Stop!" Lily cried exhausted. "I just don't want to talk about it. It's too soon and I don't feel comfortable having this kind of talk." She got up and walked towards the stairs.

"Mom!" Serena objected.

"Lily….come on!" Rufus Ran after her grabbing her arm and turning her around. Lily looked into his eyes begging him to stop that torture with them. Rufus got the hint and said to the kids "Alright. Enough baby talk for today."

"You started it." Jenny complained.

"Lily doesn't want to talk about it anymore, so we won't. Ok?" Rufus pulled Lily into a hug.

"Ok, but Viviane is so cute. Just so you know."

"Serena!" Eric and Rufus bawled in unison.

"I'm sorry." She apologized looking at her mom, still leaning against Rufus' chest.

"Let's eat now." Rufus gently rubbed Lily's back. She nodded and still wrapped around her husband's muscular body started to move through the living room. They all ate in silence, the kids were a little mortified for not noticing how much their talk was bugging Lily. Rufus decided to break the ice and get things straight then "I know It's hard and It's going to be like this for a while, we just need to take it easy. Not too much excitement and no sad faces all the time. Let's just balance our feelings. Ok?" All the kids nodded in response. Lily sighed and put a hand on Rufus' thigh under the table.

Four weeks had passed from that day. Rufus and Lily were set to visit the doctor. Anxiety was taking over them everytime the doctor's appointment was around the corner, but they were getting better at managing nervousness at least. The shaking and the heavy breathing were gone by the time their fourth sonogram was due. When they came back from the clinic later that day all of their children were waiting for them to come back to the penthouse. They were all being super supportive and overprotective of Lily and the baby. Their genuine concern was kind of sweet, both Rufus and Lily didn't see that coming their way, especially from Serena and Jenny. The girls were being very maternal and that made their parents happy and proud of the grown up attitude they were pulling off. "How was the doctor's appointment?" Eric cried as soon as he heard the elevator opening. Lily and Rufus smiled at him and answered as one voice "Good."

"What did the doctor say?" Dan asked getting up from the couch. He was visibly apprehensive.

"The baby is growing perfectly healthy and is getting so big!" Lily grinned taking out of her bag an ultrasound picture. The kids all gathered around her to take a look.

"How cute!" Jenny said staring at it.

"Are we sure this is a girl now?" Serena asked thrilled.

"Yes, yes we are." Rufus cried excited grubbing his wife's waist and pushing her closer to him.

They all giggled and started to press on the other to touch Lily's belly first. Lily couldn't help smiling and said "So, since I am more than 4 months along what do you say if we just pick a name for this little girl?" Lily grinned at her kids.

"Awesome!" Jenny clapped her hands with enthusiasm.

"You just have to sit down though honey. " Rufus led her to the couch pushing her a little with his hand on her lower back.

"So, we have a few names already picked out. We want to know what you think about it." Lily began. "Alicia, Sophia, Matilda, Angelica, Veronica and Kimberly." She said enthusiastic.

"Kimberly. Really guys?" Dan asked surprised. The other three groaned along.

"So I guess we'll just drop Kimberly, Lil." Rufus rolled his eyes.

"I like Veronica. It's cool." Jenny said.

"Veronica Humphrey? Why on Earth should my sister be named Veronica?" Serena said annoyed.

"Actually I think it's nice too." Dan took his sister's side.

"You named your baby, oh excuse me 'supposedly yours', Milo. What do you know about baby names, huh?" Serena said harshly.

"What do you say mom?" Eric asked trying to focus the conversation on something more appropriate than Georgina Sparks' schemes and lies.

"It's not that I don't like the name..."

"So Veronica goes too." Rufus sighed interrupting her.

"No, I mean. I like the other names more." Lily pouted.

"Lil it's ok, we'll have to pick only one in the end, so." Rufus rubbed her back to reassure her.

"I love Sophia. So chic!" Serena smiled.

"Its elegant, isn't it?" Lily giggled with her daughter.

"I don't think an ex rocker's daughter should be named Sophia. Too much sophistication." Jenny exclaimed.

"Your name is Jennifer, what the hell are you talking about?" Eric laughed at her.

"I like Sophia too." Rufus stated kissing his wife's temple.

"So Sophia it is?" Serena asked.

"No wait! I don't like Sophia. I think Angelica sounds better indeed." Jenny said before any decision was made.

"Angelica was my first choice too." Lily winked at her.

"It's kind of cute." Eric agreed.

"Yes, but Sophia is sweeter." Serena stated making a baby voice.

"I like Sophia better too." Rufus nodded.

"I loved Matilda, does my vote count?" Dan asked raising his hand up.

"Obviously not." Jenny glared at him. "Choose a team. Dad and Serena or Me and Lily?"

"Ok, Sophia then." Dan said yielding.

"I'm up for Angelica too." Eric placed an hand on Jenny's shoulder.

"So, we're even. What do we do? Flip a coin?" Rufus joked.

"No, we'll decide another day. For now the choice is between two names only, which is kind of an achievement knowing that we started with Jennifer junior." They all laughed at what Lily said, except Jenny.

"Wait a minute, what did the doctor said about your placenta…..I don't know the name!" Dan asked taken aback, the kids totally forgot about the disease Lily was facing throughout the pregnancy. He felt stupid for asking that question only now.

"Well, my placenta didn't move, so the problem still remains. The doctor said we'll figure it out along the way."

"You are not lying to us mom, are you?" Serena asked unsure about the upcoming answer.

"I would never lie about my health to you." Lily said firmly looking into her daughter's eyes.

"Ahem…ahem…"

"Serena the cancer was different, I'm carrying a baby this time." Lily answered hurt.

"Still you are such a good liar mom. Just admit it." Serena incited her mother.

"Enough. I don't want you guys to fight over something that happened in the past. Stop it now." Rufus intruded and grabbed Lily's back.

"You're right, We just wanted to be absolutely sure our sister and mom are both fine." The eldest daughter of Lily's smiled lightly.

"They are Serena." Rufus kissed Lily's shoulder.

"Ok, then." She touched her mom's belly. "Hey Soph, you better come out of there soon otherwise I have no idea who to go shopping with, you hear me?"

"You're getting way too excited about this baby, kids. I will never let you hold her….I'm scared you will run away with her." Lily joked. They laughed, a little relieved. For the first time they were enjoying Lily's pregnancy like a normal family.


	10. Chapter 10 It's all about the baby

Lily was sipping her orange juice in bed, it was quite early, she was'nt able to catch some sleep the night before so Rufus woke up early with her and made some breakfast to eat together in bed. All of a sudden she choked. Rufus turned around to make sure Lily was fine, patting her back with his hand as he noticed she was choking. "Are you okay?" Rufus kept on patting her on the back.

"Yes….I am more than okay." She smiled excitedly.

"You got so excited that you almost choked." Rufus laughed turning back to read his paper.

"You bet I am. Here" Lily took Rufus hand and placed it on the left side of her belly.

Rufus eyes widened and he exclaimed "Oh my God! She's kicking, she is kicking, I can feel it!" Instantly Rufus placed both his hands on Lily's stomach and started to talk to it as he moved his face closer. "Hey baby girl! Try not to kick your mom too hard, please." The baby stopped kicking all of a sudden. "She stopped!" Lily cried amused.

"Oh Gosh! How is that possible?"

"Well I guess she recognized her daddy's voice." Lily smiled brushing some hair away from his forehead.

"That's my girl!" Rufus kissed Lily's belly multiple times.

"I want a kiss too." Lily pouted.

Rufus smiled up at her and moved closer. He softly kissed her lips. Lily cupped his face with her hands and deepened the kiss. They made out for a couple of minutes until the baby started kicking again. "Ouch!" Lily said against Rufus' lips. "Did she kick again?" Rufus asked with a grin on his face.

"Yes." Lily nodded.

"Hey you in there, I already told you not to kick your mom too hard. Otherwise you will be grounded even before you come out of there. You hear me?" Lily couldn't help but laugh at the image of Rufus talking like that to her belly.

"She will start kicking as soon as you turn your back. Don't forget she's Serena and Jenny's sister." Lily laughed as Rufus smiled immediately.

"This is terrifying me and you keep on making jokes about it." Rufus turned serious crossing his arms on his chest.

"Come here." Lily pulled him in her arms, his head resting on her shoulder.

"I am so happy Lil. We are going to be good, everything is going to be good." Rufus wrapped an arm around Lily's waist and cuddled in her arms.

"Yeah…." Lily nodded carelessly. They stayed in bed holding each other for a few minutes then Rufus got up and ran into the other room. "Where are you going?" Lily asked confused lifting herself on her elbows. Rufus came back into their bedroom with one of his guitars, actually it was "the one" as Rufus liked to call it. Lily smiled as he set on the edge of the bed and started to tune it. "Do you feel like playing something for us?" Lily was surprised.

"Yes." Then Rufus moved Lily closer to him and started playing Rosewood for them. Lily rested her head on his shoulder and sang the chorus with him. They locked eyes a couple of times, it was so good to listen to their song again, especially when it was Rufus playing it for her and for her only. Lily touched her belly, the baby stopped moving, it felt like she was just amazed by her daddy singing to them. She couldn't help but smile thinking back to the time when they were touring the world, thinking back of the time Rufus wrote that song for her, thinking back on all the times he sang that particular song on stage and dedicated it to her, making tons of young girls scream in dissents. Rufus composed "Rosewood" with the same guitar he was playing at the moment for his wife and their baby girl, that's the reason why he called it "The one". It was a special guitar, that made Lily fall in more in love with him back in the days. Rufus put the black guitar down and kissed Lily's stomach caressing it. "Thank you." She whispered into his ear leaning down a little. Rufus turned his face and met his wife's lips. He kissed her gently then deepened the kiss. In less than a minute Rufus was on top of her unbuttoning her pajamas, eager to take everything she had on, off. Lily moaned as Rufus started kissing her between her breast, she tangled her fingers into his hair, her hips were moving up crushing against Rufus's chest clearly demanding for more. Rufus brought his mouth back to Lily's neck kissing it. Lily took his face in her hands and moved it to hers so to let their lips crushed onto each others once again. Rufus' hand slightly moved in between her legs, under her pajamas' pants, but as he touched her he suddenly stopped and moved away, climbing off of her. "Jesus!" Lily groaned in frustration.

Rufus Got up from the bed and started to walk around the room. "We cannot do this . time. We need to stop Lil." He said trying to catch his breath.

"I know." Lily buried her face into her hands to prevent herself from scream.

"It's always like this, we can't keep our hands off each other. And you wouldn't have stopped me if I didn't myself. We should have more will power." Rufus was right, on every front, but being contained had never ever been their thing.

"I am sorry, can you blame me? I haven't had sex with my husband for a very long time. I can't control myself." Lily stated helplessly.

"Do not start this conversation." Rufus pointed at her.

"You are the one who started it." Lily protested glaring at him.

"Ok, that's it. I need to take a shower." He said looking down at the bulb in his pants.

"Rufus I know this is frustrating." A sigh escaped Lily's mouth whilst Rufus made his way to the bathroom.

"Lily I am going nuts. I cannot think straight every time you touch me, even when you do it involuntarily. You could have me aroused just giving me a look and I have to share the same bed with you every night. This is just too much!" Rufus screamed back at her from the bathroom.

"Don't you think I feel the same? I would give birth right here, right now, just to be able to have you inside of me instead of her." Rufus emerged from the bathroom laughing hard.

"What's so funny?" Lily asked upset.

"You are a terrible mother!" Rufus said between a laughter and another.

Lily couldn't help but laugh too. "Yeah, but what do we do for the next 4 months Rufus? I mean…."

"Hold on? Do we have a choice?" Rufus brought his hands on his hips.

"I feel like crying!" Lily screamed irritated.

"Me too. I really need that cold shower though. Just redress and try to look less sexy when I come back." He warned her.

"I am fat as a cow how can I look sexy to you?" Lily asked with revelation.

"God give me the strength!" Rufus paused.

"What now?"

"If I answer this question I will find myself straddling you in less than a

second. Please, let's end this now." Rufus begged her and then took deep breaths.

"Fine!" Lily crossed her arms over her chest.

Weeks were passing slowly and Lily was getting bigger and bigger. The doctor was very impressed by how well her pregnancy was progressing, against all odds. Rufus and Lily could not be happier to hear that. The baby was growing perfectly well and feeling her moving inside her belly was not a sporadic event anymore. She was not a lively baby, but every little move she made was perfectly felt by Lily. It was weird to her feeling another human being stir inside of her after all the time that passed from the her last pregnancy. Rufus was getting more excited everyday. He never used to leave Lily alone during the day, his wife and the baby were his main concern. Lily was facing her cravings' period, which was a very nightmare to Rufus. He had to cook or buy her the weirdest stuff at the most unpredictable hours of the day. The kids were making fun of Rufus all the time calling him "delivery guy" because of all the special deliveries he had to make for his wife. Nights were the hardest, Lily tended to stay awake almost all night long and Rufus had to keep her company or do some special errands in the middle of the night. "Rufus!" Lily shook her husbands shoulder to wake him up.

"What?" Rufus mumbled turning around.

"We want eggrolls." Lily smiled innocently at him trying to not upset him for waking him up in the middle of the night.

"Ok." Rufus turned on his side and fell asleep again.

"We want it now. Come on!" Lily pushed him gently.

"Lily….It's 3 in the morning. Go back to sleep." Rufus didn't move of an inch.

"Rufus, please! We want some eggrolls, please!" Lily pulled the covers off him.

"Lily! I am freezing. Stop it. I want to sleep." Rufus protested pulling the covers down on him again.

"But your daughter wants eggrolls and is not going to let me sleep if she won't have some." Lily stated with irritation.

"No, You want eggrolls. My daughter would crave chili, not eggrolls. Go back to sleep Lil." Rufus laid on his stomach.

"That's not true. I never craved eggrolls in the middle of the night before. Pleeeeease!" Lily begged him pushing him out of the bed with all her strength.

"I said go. Back. To. Sleep." Rufus turned his face around and gently moved her hands back on her side of the bed.

"You are unbelievable!" She groaned crushing herself onto the bed again.

"Love you too." Rufus mumbled satisfied.

"Your daughter will have a huge eggroll spot on her forehead. If you're fine with it then so am I." Lily said the magic words.

"Jesus! You are….." Rufus got up on his knees and looked at her.

"What?" She smirked at him.

"The death of me." He moved closer and kissed her on the lips. "I'll try to

come back as soon as I can." He kissed her again.

"Thank you my darling." Lily brushed her lips against his one more time.

"God only knows how many things you will have to do in this bed to make it up to me." He whispered into her ear and then jumped off of the bed.

"Rufus!" Lily smiled nicely surprised by Rufus' words.

"You will regret not being pregnant anymore." He said while putting a pair of jeans and a sweater on.

"GO!" Lily pointed at the door slightly laughing.

An hour later Rufus came back home with a bag full of eggrolls, that smell at that time of the night was making him nauseous. "There you go." Rufus put the bag on Lily's nightstand and sat down on her side of the bed. She was sleeping so peacefully Rufus decided to let her sleep. The eggrolls would have to wait. He kissed her temple and tucked her into the covers. As he did so Lily's eyes opened. "Rufus….what time is it?" She turned around to look at him in the darkroom. "It doesn't matter. Go back to sleep. The eggrolls will still be here in the morning." He smiled at her caressing her head. Lily nodded and closed her eyes again. Rufus took his clothes off and jumped into bed again. Lily felt his husband's presence behind her and turned around wrapping her arm around his chest. "Thanks. I love you" She mumbled cuddling into his arms. Rufus kissed her head and wrapped his arms around her holding her tight to his body, eager to fall back asleep. Holding her in his arms made him forget about his late night errands to buy her some eggrolls, which she didn't even eat in the end. Rufus would have done anything for his wife, anything to let her feel comfortable, supported and loved in that particularly tough time of their lives. The morning after Lily woke up to Rufus staring at her. "Morning." She mumbled trying to keep her eyes open.

"Good morning to you." Rufus kissed her head.

"Why do you like staring at me when I am asleep? It's annoying." Lily raised her head from Rufus' chest.

"You said it yourself, because it annoys you." His eyes lowered and then kissed her lips. "Your eggrolls are still there by the way." He pointed at her nightstand after breaking the kiss.

"Oh Gosh! I'm so sorry Rufus, I sent you out to buy eggrolls and then I didn't even eat them."

"It's not a big deal Lil."

"I am driving you crazy, aren't I?" Lily blushed a little.

"Always have." Rufus nuzzled his nose against hers smiling.

"Yeah." Lily grinned, before letting her lips meet her husband's lips.

Lily started to get excited about the arriving of their baby girl, so she decided it was time to make some improvements around the house. She was now 26 weeks pregnant and time was flying by so fast she would have no time left to get everything ready by the time the baby would be born. Even if she forbade the kids and Rufus from buying anything for the baby, she knew something needed to be done. They had to get ready, the baby would be there in less than 3 months. So Lily decided to surprise Rufus, she owned him one since he had been so patient and so caring with her. Two days later her surprise was ready, it was hard to prevent Rufus from finding everything out, but Eric gladly gave her a hand. "Come with me." Lily said grabbing her Husband's hand and pulling him behind her, when he came back home that day.

"Where are we going Lil?" Rufus asked following her lead. "Not the bedroom, you know we can't…."

"It is not our bedroom." Lily trailed him off rolling her eyes.

"Then what is it?" Rufus was getting very curious.

"I want you to close your eyes and your mouth for a couple of minutes, can you do that?" Rufus nodded. Lily opened the door of the room that, until then, Rufus used to have as his own little corner. There were his guitars, Cds and other band's stuff. She opened the door and pushed Rufus in. "You can open your eyes now." Rufus did as told and his mouth dropped open. "Gosh Lil….what is it?"

"I didn't want to get our baby room ready without your approval, so I decided to put pictures of the furniture we need all around the room, exactly where I would like them to be placed, but If you don't like my disposition we can always change it. What do you say?" Rufus was out of words. "I know, I know this was your little space, but Eric and Jenny are going to leave soon for college and Serena will want her own place to live in at some point, so if that's not a problem for them, we can always have the baby take one of their rooms. For now I wanted to have the baby as close as possible to our…." Rufus took her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Lily kissed him back and when he broke the kiss she asked "So I guess you're okay with this?"

"Of course I am. This is the sweetest thing you could ever do. You forbid us to talk about baby names or to buy things for the baby and in the meantime you are putting the nursery together?" Rufus was happily surprised.

"Well I wanted to do it just in time, you know? Things look good and the baby is pretty fine, so I said to myself: why not? I know I gave you all a hard time with all these prohibitions, but I am still very scared about our baby." Lily put her pout face on.

"Then why the nursery? We have quite some time before the baby arrives." Rufus touched Lily's belly grinning at her.

"You heard the doctor Rufus, the last trimester is the most difficult one and I wanted the baby to have her own room just in case I might not be around by the time…."

"Don't." He cut her off giving her a look.

"She comes home." Lily ended her previous sentence.

"You will be here. Don't be silly." Rufus was nervously caressing Lily's belly now.

"Rufus, now you listen to me." Lily looked him right into his eyes.

"I'm out of here." In less than a second Rufus turned his back and made his way to the door.

"Please." Lily cried following him.

"If you think I will be standing still here listening to you talking like you are going to die any minute, you are crazy." Rufus turned around again and stared at his wife..

"Rufus…."Lily sighed reaching for Rufus' hand.

"Don't say my name, don't say a word Lily!" They looked at each other. "You mean too much to me. More than any other human being on this planet." Lily sighed, a tear ran down her cheek and she suddenly wiped it away. "Don't even think to leave me here, alone." Lily opened her mouth to speak, but Rufus talked first. "Dan? Jenny? This baby? They will never be you. They will never be the love of my life, so don't you dare say you won't leave me alone because they will be there with me. They are not you. They will never give me what I need because all I need in my life is you. I had you before having them, I had you in my life since forever and I never planned not to have you in my life, not when I was married to another woman, not when I was having the children I would have wanted to have from you, with another woman. I don't know how to do it, how do I manage not having you everyday beside me? There's no way you are going to leave me Lily. I will not let this happen. I'm sorry." Rufus had tears in his eyes, Lily looked at him sobbing hard. Rufus stepped towards her and pulled her into a hug. It was getting hard to hug each other now that her belly was getting so big they could barely wrap their arms around each other. Lily held on tight to him covering his shirt with tears. Rufus rubbed her back kissing the top of her head. " Rufus I…." Lily was cut off by a sob.

"Don't speak….I know what you're thinking. Me too Lil….me too." Lily sobbed even harder thinking about how much pain that pregnancy was causing them and how much joy at it was giving them at the same time.

Lily and Rufus coordinated the works for the nursery. Lily chose the colors and the furniture and Rufus studied deeply the best disposition they could give them in order to create a comfortable environment for their baby. The nursery turned out to be beautiful. It had white furniture with pink and violet floral details around the edges of them. The walls were painted with a light pink color , only the wall behind the crib had little white butterflies stickers all over it. Rufus wanted their baby to sleep into the same crib Jenny and Dan used to sleep in, but Lily convinced him, new furniture was the best choice. Everything was ready for the baby's arrival, the kids were buying tons of stuff for the baby, now that Lily let them do some baby shopping. While Serena was more focused on baby clothes and shoes, Eric and Jenny were on the toy's page on the other hand. Dan was surely the wisest one, starting to buy books about babies for Lily and Rufus, they were kind of rusty about the subject. Weeks were literally flying by and in less than 5 weeks they would have a little girl to take care of. After getting everything ready for her, Lily focused her attention on the other kids, especially on Eric and Jenny who were about to graduate from high school very soon. Rufus disagreed with her wife about her involvement with the parents' board who was trying to organize the ceremony and the after party both, but that was something Rufus would never be able to take away from her. "Lily you know you should not organize this party, you should be in bed resting." Rufus said after waiting patiently for 10 minutes for his wife to hang up the phone.

"Rufus I know what I'm doing. Eric and Jenny are going to graduate next week and I want everything to be perfect at the party." Lily smiled regardless.

"That you will not be attending." Rufus reminded her.

"Rufus please. We'll stay there for an hour or so and then come back home." Lily smiled at her husband batting her eyelashes.

"Lily I already told you. This is not going to happen, forget it." Rufus turned his back on her and headed off to the stairs.

"This is unfair, I want to attend the after party, come on!" She groaned following him.

"I gave you my blessing to attend the graduation ceremony for the day, don't make me take it back." Rufus was playing the boss for sure, but Lily had no intention on giving up.

"This is unbelievable! Our kids are going to graduate and you want to take the joy of that moment away from me." The "feelings" card was always the right one to put on the table when it came to make Rufus' heart melt.

"To be exact I want to take away from the joy that the partywill give you, you will be attending the ceremony during which Eric and Jenny will graduate." Rufus grinned turning to her . Lily's plan failed miserably.

"Whatever!" She grunted with annoyance.

"Stop planning this party Lil, we are not going to go." Rufus warned her. In response she took her phone out to make a call. "You are almost 8 months pregnant, you should be in bed and look at you running around the house making phone calls and meeting party planners." Rufus took her blackberry out of her hand.

"What is wrong with wanting to organize a nice party for our kids?" Lily asked annoyed rolling her eyes.

"A party that will not happen here, and will not include us as guests. Stop it now." Rufus said gently and kissed her cheek.

"I'm just helping Jonathan's mom with the organization part." Lily was making another effort to convince Rufus she was doing something good for someone other than herself.

"No, you're doing it on her behave. It's kind of different to me."

"Well she's a doctor and does not know how to plan a party, God knows how much she needs my help." Lily laughed pecking a kiss on Rufus' jaw trying to get the phone from his hand.

"Lily I'm seriously concerned. You have rested in bed for like an hour a day lately, this is not good. And you know that." Rufus brought his arm behind his back to prevent her to reach it.

"I promise I'll spend the rest of the day resting my love, just a couple of phone calls and I'll go." Lily pleaded Rufus trying to get the phone from behind his back.

"Ok….you promised Lil." Rufus gave it to her.

"Yes." She kissed him on the lips lightly and left the room. While she was making a phone call Lily started to feel a twinge to her pelvic zone. "Oh God!" She whispered. She ran into the nearest bathroom to check if she was bleeding, but nothing. The pain was growing though. "Rufus!" She screamed with tears in her eyes.

"What?" Rufus ran to her worried.

"I….I….the baby…oooouch! It hurts Rufus." He took her into his arms helping her to stay on her feet.

"I'm calling an ambulance, now." Rufus said trying to get Lily's phone from her hand, but she tightened the hold around it.

"No….I am not bleeding, it just hurts." Lily said trying to catch her breath, pain's intensity was rising fast.

"Give me this phone for the love of God!" Rufus yelled taking the phone out of her hands.

Three hours later Rufus and Lily came back home, hand in hand. "I told you there was no need to rush to the hospital like that." Lily glared at Rufus.

"The doctor said you are stressing yourself too much." Rufus brushed some hair out of her eyes.

"True. But it was nothing, our doctor already warned us about pelvic pain, remember?" Lily smiled trying to be positive.

"If you were not so stubborn you would be fine by now." Lily growled with annoyance. "Rufus I just wanted…."

"To kill yourself and my daughter? Yeah, I got it." He interrupted her hastily, his tone was definitely pissed.

"Don't talk like that." Lily animadverted him.

"There's no way you're going to attend the graduation now." Rufus said firmly.

"Rufus!" Lily cried in shock.

"I am done." Rufus reinforced his point once again.

"It's Jenny's and Eric's day, I want to be there for them. I don't want to miss my son's graduation." Lily had an accusing tone in her voice.

"Yes and what about missing your daughter's birth, uh?" Things were getting heated between husband and wife. Rufus was not sparing her any blame.

"Rufus. The ultrasound proved that the baby is fine." Lily calmed herself before speaking again.

"It didn't prove to me that you're going to be fine for sure. The doctor was pretty clear about that." His reply was not so unruffled though.

"I will rest until the graduation day, I won't put a foot out of the bed. I swear." They locked eyes for a moment.

"I take it for granted." Rufus responded coldly.

The following week was entirely spent in bed by Lily. She was basically forced by Rufus only to get up for bathroom emergencies. The kids were trying to be supportive, but clearly the thought of his mother not being at his own graduation was bugging Eric very much. Lily started to feel guilty more and more as graduation day was grew closer. Rufus was absolutely inflexible, Lily would not attend either the graduation nor the after party. The morning of the graduation Eric and Jenny went into Lily and Rufus' bedroom to say their goodbyes to her and let her see them in their gowns. "Oh Eric you graduate today! I'm so excited and proud of you, honey." Lily grinned at her son as he entered the room.

"Thanks mom." Eric went by her bed's side and hugged her.

"And Jenny you look so beautiful….I love you both so much!" Lily hugged Jenny too.

"I'm sorry dad won't let you come to the graduation ceremony." Jenny said pulling away.

"I know and I am very sorry and disappointed, but I promise we will celebrate later somehow. Ok?" The kids both nodded.

"So, ready to go?" Rufus surfaced from behind the door.

"Yes, let's go graduate!" Jenny exclaimed thrilled.

"Have fun guys. Don't forget to take pictures, tons of pictures." Lily hugged Eric and Jenny once again.

"See you later Lil." Rufus walked into the room and made his way to their bed. He leaned down to kiss her but she moved her head away. "I know you're mad at me but you didn't stop having pelvic pains in 3 days, you cannot come."

"Yeah….whatever." Lily looked away.

"Lily." Rufus was about to give her one of his lecture.

"Go now. I don't want you to miss our kids graduation day." Lily would have said anything just to avoid one of those conversation they kept having with each other over and over again for the last 10 days. "I love you." Rufus kissed her cheek and walked out of the room, leaving Lily alone brooding.

Knowing his wife, Rufus was not surprised to see her at the graduation ceremony. All the people there were staring at Lily and at her belly while Lily was trying to get to her seat, right next to Rufus. Upper East Side was apparently not so appreciative of a 43 years old woman having a child. They were all talking behind her back, but once again that was surely not a shock to Lily. "Lily!" Rufus exclaimed. He didn't know how to feel, if more surprised or pissed.

"Don't say a word, I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Lily placed her index finger on his mouth.

"But you are…." Rufus moved his lips to talk against her finger.

"Fine." Lily cut him off.

"Lily you should be….." Rufus was not letting go.

"In bed resting, I know. I'll go back home as soon as the ceremony ends." She rolled her eyes and then tried to reassure him.

"You are so stubborn. I am…." Rufus stammered looking at her.

"Happy to see me? Yes, me too my darling." Lily kissed him.

"I can't wait for this ceremony to be over to take you home." He groaned in disagreement. Then kissed her again. Lily kissed him back, she knew her Rufus would understand.

The graduation ceremony didn't last long. An hour more or less. Jenny and Eric were both so thrilled, the latter almost tripped off the stage while getting up on it. Rufus and Lily laughed loud lightly shaking their heads at the vision of Jenny almost on the ground. It was surely a day full of emotions for both of them. Lily cried more than once during the graduation, especially when Eric took his diploma. Rufus was taking pictures of them trying his best not to listen to Lily making fun of his photography skills. At the end of the ceremony Rufus and Lily reached their kids, both touched by Lily's attendance at their graduation. After a couple of pictures with them, Rufus rushed Lily home to put her to bed. "We are home, everything is good, I feel good, the children were amazing up there getting their diplomas and I am missing a party, aren't you happy?" Lily smiled leaning in to kiss Rufus as they walked into their apartment.

"Actually no, you shouldn't have come Lil. You know that." Rufus admonished her.

"But I did and I feel good, so?" Lily smirked lowering her eyes on his lips.

"So bed….now!" Rufus kissed her quickly and took her hand into his own, leading his wife towards their bedroom upstairs.

"Oh Rufus you know we can't have sex." Lily joked.

"Stop it. How can you joke about it?" Rufus cried in shock.

"Because today I am very very happy." She smiled and turned her husband around with her other hand to meet his lips again. This time Rufus deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm going to take a shower, you go to bed. Wait for me there." He grinned at her.

"Okay, okay." Lily nodded smiling.

15 minutes later Rufus came out of the bathroom, Lily was in their bed.

"Hey….you fell asleep?" Rufus asked Lily crushing on the bed next to her.

"Lil?" He turned to the right to face her. "Lil wake up….it's only six in the afternoon. Were you this tired baby?" Rufus kissed her on the lips softly. But she didn't make a move. "Lily?" Rufus started to worry. "Lil?" He shook her shoulders. She didn't open her eyes. "LILY!" Rufus screamed taking the covers off of her. The sheets were completely covered with her blood. "Fuck, Lily!" Rufus jumped off the bed and called the 911, his hands were shaking and he started to sweat hard. After the call he hopped onto the bed again taking Lily into his arms. "Don't leave me…..Don't do this to me!" He started crying whilst kissing her temple. "I need you Lil, I love you so much…..Please don't leave me."


	11. Chapter 11  Baby angel

**This chapter is dedicated to my friend ****Magda, who tomorrow is going to go under for surgery. I hope she'll like this chapter even if "Juicy Parts" are not involved. LOL wish you all the best girl.**

Doctor Pratt ran towards Rufus as soon as they arrived at the ER. Lily was on a stretcher, still unconscious. She was white in the face and the paramedics were pushing her stretcher at a very high speed. Rufus was just behind them, tears in his eyes. "I don't know what happened, she was fine an half hour ago." Rufus said without taking a breath.

"Don't worry Rufus I'll try my best to save both of them." The doctor said looking at Rufus and then at Lily. She disappeared behind a big white door with Lily and the two paramedics. Rufus felt instantly alone in that big room, the love of his life was fighting against death and so was his daughter. Tears started running from his eyes, the fear of losing them both was too overwhelming. His breath was heavy, his hands were shaking, what would he do without Lily? Everything stopped making sense to him, people were running through the hallway but he noticed nobody, the only thing he was able to see was that damn white door. Still Shut. Minutes felt like hours, no sign of doctor Pratt or Lily, no clue about what was going on in that room. Rufus was crying, sobbing like a baby. He lost his self-consciousness, his contact with reality, his own meaning all at once, all in the moment he saw Lily vanish behind that white door. The only thought crossing his mind was making sure his wife and their baby were still alive. He stopped sobbing, trying to gather himself when the door opened and Doctor Pratt came out of the room in which they brought Lily, 15 minutes later. "This is more serious than I thought Rufus. I need to perform a C-section now, otherwise we could lose the baby." The doctor said with concern. Rufus paled. "But it's too soon."

"Lily just entered her 8th month of pregnancy this week, I need to do it." The doctor placed her hand on Rufus' shoulder to convince him.

"Will the baby be ok?" Rufus closed his eyes waiting for the answer.

"Let's hope so." The doctor tried to smile, but what she had on her face could not be further from a real smile.

"What about my wife?" Rufus sighed, just mentioning her brought tears to his eyes again.

"She lost a lot of blood, I don't know Rufus….we are focusing on the baby right now."

"Save Lily, save her! Focus on her!" All of a sudden Rufus started screaming, he was up for anything, but not losing Lily. That was not an option.

"I will, but to do that I have to take the baby out and hope she will be alright." The doctor tried to calm him down.

"Please….I don't want to lose both of them, but…" Rufus knew what he just said made the doctor think he didn't care enough about their baby, but Lily came first to him.

"Trust me, I'll do whatever it takes to save them both." The doctor patted him on the back and then left, before vanishing behind the huge white door again.

"Thank you." Rufus mumbled.

Hours were passing slowly. Rufus had been walking around the Hospital's hall for about 40min straight. Serena, Eric, Dan, Jenny, Chuck, Blair and Eleanor came to the hospital shortly after Rufus called his eldest son. Serena had been crying on Blair's shoulder since she arrived at the hospital. Dan and Eric were trying to cheer Jenny up somehow, but nothing was working, they were all scared to death. Chuck didn't say a word the whole time, he was sitting on a chair staring at the floor beneath him. 3 hours had passed since the surgery started, but there was no doctor coming out of the room telling them anything. Rufus was stopping everyone with a white alb on, trying to receive any kind of information about Lily or the baby. The answer was always the same "You have to wait and be patient." The hundredth time Rufus heard this response he got so irritated and pissed that he pushed the male hard against the hospital wall yelling at him to tell him the truth. Dan had to intervene to avoid a huge fight between the two. Rufus calmed down a little after a couple of minutes. The waiting was literally killing him. He could not think clearly, just the thought of losing Lily made him so angry he could have killed someone right there and then. The doctor came out of the ER ten minutes later. Rufus jumped off the chair he was sitting in and ran towards her. "How is she? How is my daughter?" He asked breathing heavily.

"The baby looks strong, we put her in an incubator, she cannot breath by herself. We don't know yet if she's going to survive though Rufus. I'm sorry, she's so tiny and we are going to monitor her from now on. The pediatrician will try his best to keep her alive. For now she will stay into the Neonatal Intensive Unit Care." Doctor Pratt explained.

"God…" Rufus exclaimed. "What about Lily?" He would have never thought those three words could be so painful to let out. The answer could have changed his life forever.

"She lost a lot a blood and we had to give her a blood transfusion, we have to wait and see how she reacts. For now she's under morphine." The doctor said with a contrite expression on her face.

"Tell me the truth." Rufus took a deep breath. "They could die? Both of them?" His voice was shaking.

"Right now the baby is the one that scares us the most, she's a bigger baby than usual kids of 29 weeks old, but still she was definitely not ready to come into the world."

"I know….and what about Lily?"

"We have to wait to have some news Rufus….we'll see how her body reacts to the transfusion." The doctor said apologetically.

"Ok, thanks." Rufus nodded and turned around to inform the others. As he explained the situation Jenny threw herself at her dad, wrapping her arms around his chest tight. Dan Hugged Rufus too when he saw few tears coming out of his eyes. Serena and Eric watched the Humphreys hugging each other without saying a word, Rufus noticed it and pulled away to go hug them too. The girl burst into tears as Rufus placed an arm around her shoulders tightening her hold around him. Eric joined the hug sobbing just hard as his sister. Blair and Chuck locked eyes, before He turned around and left the hall with his face in his hands. The doctors didn't exactly give them any good news, They had to wait to know if everything was alright. The waiting part was obviously the most difficult one. The night was elapsing slowly. Jenny and Eric fell asleep on the hospital chairs, exhausted by the day they had had. Dan and Serena were holding each other's hand, in silence. Rufus was the only one unable to get some kind of rest or to sit down at least, it felt like those chairs were covered by millions of pins everytime he tried to sit down on one of them. Midnight had passed for some time now and still they had no additional information about Lily or the baby. Rufus was starting to worry even more now. Why weren't they telling them anything after all those hours? Was something wrong? Did any of them face some complications? He couldn't help but ask himself these questions over and over again. Thoughts of every kind were running through his head non stop. It was 3 in the morning, Blair and her mother had just left to go get some rest. They tried to convince Serena, Jenny and Eric to follow them, but they all politely refused the offer. Doctor Pratt finally came into the waiting room to talk to Rufus and his kids. "Rufus, Lily is waking up." She said smiling at him. Dan, Jenny, Eric and Serena all gathered behind Rufus' back to listen to what the doctor had to say. "She will not remember anything of what happened, so please try to be nice and don't say anything about the baby just yet, she could have a shock or something. I will talk to her later in the morning."

"Yes, yes. Please take me to her room." Rufus begged her.

"Follow me." She nodded and started to walk away. The kids watch them walk away in silence. Eric and Jenny hugged each other, hoping to receive good news from Rufus once he came back.

The doctor opened the door for Rufus and let him into Lily's room. Lily's eyes were still closed, she looked so exhausted. Her lips were a weird purple shade and her face was so white it was almost impossible to distinguish it from the pillow. Her blonde hair were falling on her shoulders, framing her ashy face. She had two drips in her arm. Rufus moved closer to her bed, it was painful to look at her laid in that bed, so weak , so out of strength, but still incredibly beautiful. He started to stroke her head tenderly, a tear fell from his eye, it seemed like a dream to be able to finally touch her, to feel the warmth of her body against his hand. She was still there with him, she didn't leave him alone. Rufus sighed in relief and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Lily woke up at the feeling of those well-known lips touching her skin. "Hey" Rufus kissed her again this time brushing his lips against her soft skin a little longer, breathing the smell of it.

"Rufus…." She mumbled. "Where…"

"We're at the hospital Lily, you had an hemorrhage and they had to make you deliver the baby." He explained caressing her head again.

"What?" Lily was out of breath.

"Sh….Don't speak." Rufus kissed her lips.

"Rufus….I" She stammered.

"It's gonna be okay Lil. Don't you worry." Rufus took her hand into his hands and kissed it gently.

"The baby?" Lily asked still baffled by the anesthesia.

"I said everything will be ok." Rufus kissed her one more time. Lily closed her eyes scared of what was going to happen next or already happened as far as she knew.

"I love you Lil, I love you. You are my entire life, I was scared I wouldn't be able to say it to you again." Lily squeezed his hand and smiled softly to him, before passing out again. Rufus stayed with her for the rest of the night, holding her hand and just staring at her, scared that if he ever closed his eyes she would disappear. Lily was beyond doubt a vision to him right now.

The doctor came in early the next morning. Lily was extremely out of strength, she could barely talk and was still white as a ghost. Rufus wanted to take care of her somehow, but there was really nothing for him to do other than cuddle with her. "So Lily. You had a hemorrhage in your 29th week." The doctor began to say. "This means we had to take the baby out of you, because the blood could have made her stop breathing. We performed an urgent C-section on you, which went well. You already lost a conspicuous amount of blood when you arrived here, so we had to give you a blood transfusion. Your baby was born on June 4th, at 19.23pm, weighs almost 4lbs and is pretty tiny, we obviously had to put her into an incubator. She cannot breath or eat on her own, she's still not fully developed. Mainly her lungs. So we will have to keep her there for some time. We don't have a name yet, have you decided?"

"I want to meet her." Lily's voice was coming out like a whisper.

"You cannot move Lily, you need to rest. And the baby is into the NICU, we cannot move her either." Lily started to cry.

"Honey, please. Don't cry. You are going to meet our baby soon. Right doctor Pratt?" Rufus stroked her cheek wiping some tears out of it.

"As soon as she gets better we will let her meet her baby, for sure. For now if you want to follow me, Mr Humphrey I will introduce you your little angel. She's very precious." The doctor smiled.

"I….I prefer to stay here with Lily. If the baby's okay, I will wait to meet her." Rufus answered resolutely.

"No, go." Lily whispered taking his hand. "I want you to meet her."

"I don't want to meet our baby before you do, we'll do it together." Rufus felt like he was taking away Lily's first moment with her daughter.

"Don't be silly, she already knows me. Go." Lily smiled at him squeezing his hand.

"What about the name?" The doctor asked again.

"We haven't decided yet….what do you say?" Rufus turned to Lily and brushed some hair behind her ear.

"Angelica Sophia Humphrey." Lily smiled. Rufus smiled back at her and kissed her forehead. "It sounds amazing love." Rufus kissed her again.

"It is such a beautiful name." The doctor grinned at them. "Shall we?" Rufus nodded. "I promise you will meet her soon." Lily started to cry and forced herself to smile. "I'll tell her to wait for her mommy." Lily sobbed and squeezed his hand. The pain of not being able to hold her own daughter, was fading at the thought of Rufus taking care of her.

Doctor Pratt introduced Doctor Jeremiah Doherty, a neonatologist, and Doctor Stephanie Geller, a pediatrician, to Rufus, both were in charge of taking care of Angelica in the NICU. Before entering the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit the doctors made Rufus wear a hospital gown, mask and gloves to prevent the baby from contracting infections or such. Rufus made his way into a white and grey room, it was such an antiseptic environment on so many levels. The beeping monitors around distracted him, there were so many babies in incubators fighting for their own lives at this little age, it made Rufus feel terrible. The doctors pointed out an incubator in the middle of the room, Rufus laid his eyes on it, and there she was, his little angel. Angelica was so tiny, she was not that much longer than Rufus' own hand. "Jesus!" Her father exclaimed looking at her, tears filling in his eyes. She had a tube, to be specific a feeding tube as the doctors explained to Rufus later, into her mouth that went right to her stomach to allow her to eat normally, an IV was placed into her arms, it was needed for medications and presented chest's leads all over her tiny body to count her heart rate and breathing rate. A ventilator was placed into the incubator to facilitate her breathing. Rufus was overwhelmed at the vision of his baby daughter covered with all those chest leads and tubes and everything. It looked like the baby was sick or something. Even if it was too soon to tell, Angelica looked beautiful and was the splitting image of her mommy. Rufus looked at her with teary eyes resting his hand on the glass of the incubator. Non being able to even touch her was true agony, but giving her infections was the last thing on his mind. "She's so tiny and so beautiful. She looks just like my wife, doesn't she?" Rufus smiled proudly. "She does." Doctor Pratt smiled back at him. Rufus could not keep his eyes off of her, she was magnetic. Her little chest moving up and down was the proof his little angel was fighting for them, was trying to survive with all her strength. "I know it can be very overwhelming entering in a division like this, usually newborns are not treated like this, they don't have IVs, tubes all over their bodies or have to sleep in an incubator. So, if you're a little confused just ask us what you need to." Rufus stayed mum, his eyes stuck on the incubator. "Mr Humphrey?" Doctor Doherty tried to bring him back to Earth shaking his arm. Rufus lifted his face up. "I'm sorry. I am a little shocked." Rufus mumbled resting his eyes back on his baby.

"We understand. As I was saying this whole experience you are about to go through might be very overwhelming for you and your wife. You have to be prepared for a long journey, but…"

"Is she going to be okay?" Rufus cut him off.

"She is answering very well to the treatment." The doctor faked a smile, a little annoyed Rufus had interrupted him.

"How long will she have to stay in here?" Rufus hand was not moving from the incubator's glass. It made him feel closer to Angelica somehow, like she could sense his presence through it.

"It depends on how long it will take her to develop her lungs properly and to breath and eat on her own." The pediatrician intruded in their conversation.

"I see…." Rufus nodded and bit his bottom lip, nervously.

"We know what It means to have a baby in this glass box. We have seen tons of parents dealing with it and we know it's not easy. It won't be easy for the baby and it won't be easy for you either. The only advice I can give to you is to keep the faith and be patient."

"It's going to be harder for me, my wife can't see her daughter, so this whole thing will be all upon my shoulders for a while." Rufus took a deep breath.

We are aware of your situation Mr. Humphrey and we are prepared to give you all the support you need."

"I don't know what to do, what to expect. When will I be able to hold her in my arms for instance?"

"It's hard to tell at this stage." Doctor Doherty answered coldly.

"She looks so delicate, God!" Rufus brought his hands to his head, he wanted to pull his own hair out. He was desperate to put an end to that nightmare.

"She is, Mr. Humphrey. Angelica is very vulnerable right now. We are going to ensure that she gets all the cures and the treatments she needs." Doctor Greene reassured him.

"Just so I know, could she die or face any permanent backwash?" Rufus asked turning to Doctor Doherty.

"Babies born after 28 weeks of gestation have 90% of possibilities to survive. Angelica was born during your wife's 29th week, so…."

"There's a 10% of possibilities she might die." Rufus ended the sentence for him.

"Mr Humphrey I know you want to be prepared to face any possible complication, but for now I'd say your baby is doing good."

"Yes, for now." Rufus sighed. "Look at her, so tiny, so innocent and already struggling between life and death. This is so unfair." He shook his head.

"If you look around you'll see dozens of babies in the same condition of Angelica, or even worse conditions. It's not so unusual unfortunately. Your baby will stay here for a couple of weeks more or less and then I'm sure you will be allowed to take her home, where she's supposed to be." Doctor Greene was willing to comfort him, but her effort didn't went well.

"That's only if everything goes the way it's expected to go." Rufus reminded himself and the doctors.

"Again, Mr. Humphrey, I can't assure you everything will be fine, but Angelica looks strong."

"Yes, she has taken it from my wife I guess, cause I could not feel less strong right now." Rufus' eyes lowered on Angelica again.

"It is going to be hard, but you'll see, the thought of holding your baby into your arms to take her home will make everything easier." Doctor Greene smiled at them both.

"I hope so." Rufus caressed the glass.

"We can leave you a few minutes with her if you want us to." Doctor Doherty proposed.

"That would be nice, thanks." Rufus nodded in agreement.

The doctors turned around and left Rufus alone with his baby girl. He looked at her for some time, in silence, his eyes filled with tears that he didn't want to let go. He never cried in front of his kids, he wouldn't have made an exception for his Angelica. "Hey baby girl" he sighed leaning down to take a better look at her. "I know you can't hear me or understand a word I say, but I just need to tell you something. First of all welcome to the world sweetheart. We have been waiting for you to be born for so long it seems a dream that you're finally here now. Your mom and I are very happy you came into our lives and in such an unexpected way. It looks like you just love surprising us, I wonder where that gene came from." Rufus smiled thinking of his wife. "Now you have to surprise us once again and get out of here sooner than doctors would imagine. Your mommy is waiting for you and is dying to meet you. You have no idea how lucky you are Angelica! You have the most beautiful and caring mother in the whole world, her name is Lily. Once you meet her you will instantly love her to death, just like it happened to me years ago. She's amazing. And you have a lot of brothers and sisters ready to spoil you and play with you too. There is Dan and Serena and Eric and Jenny and Scott, I can promise you, you will be loved as nobody has ever been loved, sweetie. I will be here every step of the way, I'll never leave you alone. We'll fight together. Daddy is here and soon your mommy will be here next to us too, we are going to take you home with us in next to no time. Your room is waiting for you, you have no idea how much time we have spent decorating it, especially your mom who is kind of addicted to anything that includes decorating or accessorizing, but I guess I don't have to explain it to you, you're her daughter so I assume you know what I'm talking about." He laughed at the image of Lily bringing their daughter along to some fashion event in the City. "You are coming into a big family, in which you will be protected and loved and made fun of for a very long time, so you better be prepared. Your brothers and I will never let you out of the house before you turn 40, but given that you are Serena and Jenny's sister, not to mention Lily's daughter, I won't set my hopes too high about that." He grinned. "Just fight for me Angelica, fight for your mom and your siblings, just fight baby girl. We are waiting for you to win this battle. You are our little angel, your name proves it, so you cannot disappoint us. Angels never do. Besides you're a Humphrey and we do know how to keep our heads held high. I love you sweetheart." Rufus wiped a tear with his fingertip from his eye and kissed the glass box. Then he took his cell phone out of his pocket and took a picture of Angelica to show to the kids and to Lily more than anyone else.


	12. Chapter 12 Baby bliss

**I want to thank all of you guys for your kind reviews, I really do appreciate them. I'm sorry if I made you wait a little bit more this time for an update, I hope I redeemed myself with this, longer than usual, chapter. Enjoy it. **

Rufus walked out of the NICU, still puzzled by Angelica's condition. She looked so delicate and so precious. Thinking about that 10% was not an option for sure, his little girl was strong and would fight for her life. Rufus kept on repeating it to himself, Angelica owed it to Lily, she had to make it through since her mother almost gave her life away for her. The image of his daughter was printed in his mind, her little hands, her tiny feet and that look on her face, every detail of it reminded him of Lily. She was way too young to resemble him or Lily, but she had something that looked so familiar to him. Her small elbow placed under her head while she was sleeping was identical to the position Lily used to sleep at night. He smiled proudly, still unbelievably happy to know his girls were now doing good. Coming back into the hallway, he found all the kids sitting there, waiting for him to bring them good news. They all ran towards him as they saw him arriving.

"So? How are they?" Serena asked wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Did you see the baby? How's Lily?" Jenny asked covering her step sister's voice.

"Please tell me everything's ok." Eric pleaded him.

"Guys, guys, let him breath. Don't you see he's still shocked?" Dan said gently pushing Serena, Jenny and Eric back.

"Thanks Dan." Rufus smiled. "Well I just saw the baby and she is….she's just incredible. It's pretty tiny and they had to put her into an incubator, but she's strong and hopefully she will come home with us in a couple of weeks if everything goes well."

"What about mom?" Serena asked. Fear could still be read in her eyes.

"She's exhausted and weak, they had to give her a blood transfusion, but she should be fine. Now she's resting." He sighed relieved.

"So they are both ok?" Serena burst into tears of relief.

"Well both Angelica and Lily need to recover well before we can say they are ok, but for now it looks like they are doing just fine." Rufus grinned at her.

"Angelica?" Jenny asked with teary eyes and the biggest smile on her face.

"Actually it's Angelica Sophia. Lily chose the names in the end." Rufus could not be happier for his wife's choice.

"This is the most amazing name I've ever heard in my whole life." Serena hugged Rufus tightly. Rufus hugged her back and invited with his arm the other three to join the hug. They were all very relieved and even if Rufus was still scared anything could happen to his little girl, Lily and Angelica looked good for now. The kids released him and wiped their eyes, the scare made them all very emotional. "When can we see them?" Eric asked thrilled.

"I would like you to wait some time before meeting them both, first of all Angelica is in the NICU, so only parents are allowed. I couldn't even hold her in my arms. So I guess you will have to wait for that. Concerning Lily, I will let you know when the doctor will allow you to visit her. Now I want to go back to her, I took a picture of Angelica and I want her to see it." Rufus could not stop smiling.

"What? You took a picture and said nothing? Show it to us!" Jenny cried annoyed.

"Lily first." Rufus grinned with excitement.

"Daaad!" Jenny groaned frustrated.

"Jenny, I will show your little sister to you later. Now I really need to go back to your step mother. I'll see you later." He giggled before turning around and leaving.

"We'll be here waiting." Dan smiled.

"Yeah. Say hi to mum and tell her that we love her please." Serena bawled before he disappeared behind the corner.

Rufus was over the moon. He knew their battle was not over yet, but he was pretty confident everything would go well. He entered Lily's room with a grin on his face.

"Rufus." Lily smiled as she saw her handsome husband entering her room.

"Hey beautiful." Rufus ran down to her bed and kissed her forehead.

"So? How is she?" Lily asked anxious to know the answer.

"She is fine. Oh Lil, words can't explain how beautiful she is! I think she even looks more like you than Serena does." Rufus kissed her again, Lily closed her eyes and a warm tear escaped from them. "She is so small, they didn't let me hold or touch her because it's too soon to let her out of the incubator. She is breathing thanks to a machine for now, her lungs are not fully developed yet and she eats through a feeding tube placed into her mouth, but she's doing fine. Our baby is strong just like her mommy." He kissed her forehead again.

"Thank God!" Lily exclaimed looking up at him.

"I have a sneak peek of our little girl on my cell phone if you want to see her." Rufus smirked at her taking the phone out of his pocket.

"Are you kidding me? Give me that phone now!" Lily smiled with anticipation.

"Here." Rufus handed it to Lily.

"Oh God!" Lily exclaimed, tears dropping on her cheeks again. "She is so tiny and all these tubes around her, do they hurt her?"

"No, no. " Rufus shook his head. "They keep her alive. She breaths and eats through them. Don't worry, I know it's not a good thing to see our baby girl like this, but if everything goes well she will be out of there in a couple of weeks more or less." He said caressing her head.

"She is…."

"Amazing, uh?"

"Yes." Lily sobbed.

"And she told me she can't wait to be held by her mommy." Rufus leaned down and whispered into her ear.

"I can't wait either." Lily turned her face and placed a kiss on Rufus' lips.

"Tell me how you feel now." Rufus said against her lips.

"Good. Well, my stomach area hurts a little because of the stitches and my arms hurts too. I've had enough of this drip." Lily pointed to her right. "And I am very tired to be honest." She sighed.

"I know, honey. But this pain will fade away as soon as you see Angelica."

"I am so eager to meet her." She grinned.

"And you will soon. Dr Pratt promised me she will let you see her when you're fully recovered. Her immune system is still very weak, bringing you in there, after all you've been through, might be dangerous for the baby because of infections and such. You get it, right?" Rufus didn't want to hurt Lily's feelings, he knew it had to be hard for her to accept this.

"Sure. I'll try to be patient." Lily nodded smiling.

"Good." He leaned down and kissed her briefly on the lips. "Serena, Eric, Jenny and Dan all say hi and begged me to remind you how much they love you."

"Thanks, I love them too. Can I see them at least?" Lily asked Rufus with a pout on her face.

"For now the only one allowed into this room is me. Hope you have no complaints about that." He winked at her.

"How could I?" She lifted her face up to kiss him once again.

"You scared me to death Lil. I thought I was going to have a heart attack or something." Rufus shivered at the memory of Lily covered with blood in their bed.

"I'm sorry. I don't even remember what happened."

"You passed out in our bed and when I came back from the bathroom I found you there, I was pretty sure you were asleep but when I kissed you and you didn't move of an inch I started to feel something was wrong. I tried to wake you up, but you were stiff as stone. As I lifted the covers up I saw the sheets fully covered with your blood." Rufus reported her.

"God…" Lily covered her mouth with her hand.

"I think I've never been more terrified in my life." Rufus touched her arm to be sure she was really there and he was not having some kind of twisted dream. Lily felt instantly sorry for letting him have that scare. "I'm sorry….I should have listened to you. I should have stayed home and rested and…."

"Lily, it's ok." He cut her off and took her hand into his. "You wanted to attend your son's graduation. I get it."

"But if I listened to you I wouldn't be here and Angelica wouldn't be in the NICU." Lily shook her head.

"Stop blaming yourself. It happened. Maybe things were supposed to go this way." Rufus tried to smile to convince himself too.

"No, they were not. If only I…" Lily started sobbing.

"Lily you could have died and our little girl too. It didn't happen. We have been blessed. Just focus on that." Rufus cupped her face with his hands and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs.

"Yeah…It's just that it feels like I missed my baby's birth. We were supposed to share that moment together, you know? You in the delivering room with me screaming in pain and everything." Lily wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"So you wanted me to be in there with you? You never told me this before." Rufus was kind of surprised.

"I thought it was implied Rufus." Lily rolled her eyes annoyed.

"Well, not so much. I didn't know if you let William come in when you had Eric and Serena."

"William was a doctor Rufus, obviously he was there."

"Oh, sure." Rufus stated looking away.

"But if it was up to me he would have never come into the delivering room." Lily noticed Rufus was a little bit irritated.

"Why?"

"It's not a fun experience and in that particular moment men are not appreciated as much, especially the one that got you into that situation." Lily laughed.

"So why would I have been well accepted in there then?" Rufus asked eager to know the answer.

"Because you are different. You mean something more to me. You're not just the one that knocked me up, you are the love of my life Rufus. I wouldn't have wanted anybody to hold my hand, but you." Rufus leaned down and kissed her passionately.

"I love you Lil, I didn't think I could ever love you more than I already did…but I do after all we've been through in the last 24hours." Love was filling the air.

"And I love you. I'm sorry for giving you such a scare." Lily apologized and rested her forehead against his chin.

"Promise me you will never do that again to me, you took away 10 years of my life." Rufus pulled her into his embrace.

"I promise." Lily buried her face onto his chest.

"Scott is on his way. He called a few hours ago. Your mother should be here in the afternoon." Rufus said pulling away from her.

"I'm glad. I hope to meet them all soon." Lily smiled at him as he sat on the chair next to her bed.

"Just focus on getting better to meet our little girl first, ok?" Rufus took her hand and kissed the top of it.

"Yes. She's my priority right now."

"Our priority." He corrected her.

"We're in this together, right?" Lily smirked.

"Exactly." Rufus nodded towards her.

"Would you hold me in your arms for a little bit?" Lily asked making room for him on the bed. " I just want to…"

"You don't even need to ask." Rufus got up immediately and sat down on Lily's bed, moving his arm around her shoulder so as to let Lily rest her head on his chest.

After Lily passed out, still exhausted by the surgery she had to undergo, Rufus went back to the hall to give the kids an update. Blair and Eleanor came back with starbucks and donuts for everybody later that morning. Rufus found them all there, some sipping coffee, someone taking a nap on one of those uncomfortable hospital chairs. "Want some coffee?" Dan asked wrapping his arm around Rufus' shoulder.

"No son, thanks." Rufus gently refused.

"How is Lily doing?" Eleanor asked moving closer to Rufus and Dan.

"She's taking a nap now, let's hope she will recover soon from this surgery."

"Yes, let's hope so." Eleanor hugged him.

"When will be allowed to see her?" Eric asked from the other side of the room. He couldn't get up because Jenny was sleeping on his lap.

"I'll ask the doctor if she can have visitors later." Rufus smiled softly at him.

"You look exhausted Rufus, maybe it's better for you to go home and rest a little." Eleanor suggested to him rubbing his back.

"No, I'm fine." Rufus smiled trying to sweep away that tired look from his face.

"Rufus I have to agree with her, you should go home. We will call you if anything happens." Chuck intruded handing Rufus a cup of coffee.

"Thank you, but no. I will not leave Lily and Angelica for a minute." Rufus shook his head.

"We'll stay here, you don't have to worry."

"Thanks again Chuck, but I won't go anywhere." He tried not to sound rude.

"Dad I hate to agree with Chuck, but you haven't slept in more than 24h. You don't look so good." Dan patted his shoulder.

"I am fine, trust me. Even if I went home, I wouldn't be able to get some sleep."

"If you..."

"Rufus!" Dan was cut off from a familiar voice. They turned around and saw Scott standing in the hall. He walked towards Rufus and hugged him. "You're here!" Rufus cried excitedly hugging his son.

"I tried to get here as fast as I could. How is Lily? How is my little sister?" Scott asked without taking a breath.

"They are both good, for now. Angelica is in the NICU right now, they need to monitor her for some time. It was too early to deliver her." Rufus explained summing up a little.

"So you named her Angelica in the end. I like it." He smiled and hugged his birth father again. "I'm glad they are both good. Take me to see them."

"I'm sorry, I can't. Lily is resting and for now they are allowing only parents in the NICU." Rufus shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, I get it. Don't be sorry. The most important thing is they are doing well." Scott smiled big.

"So it seems." Rufus nodded.

"How does it feel to be a dad again after so many years?" Scott patted his shoulder.

"Well….I haven't thought about it until now. I was overwhelmed with everything happening, you know?" Rufus was surprised by Scott's question. He really didn't focus on the 'I'm a father again' part.

"It's understandable."

"It feels good though. Very. And I am happy you're here with us, Scott." They hugged each other one more time.

"Hey Scott, you're here!" Serena smiled at him coming into the hall with Blair on her side.

"Serena!" Scott greeted her and gave her a hug. "I'm so happy to see you, all of you." He turned around and looked at his half brothers.

"We are too man." Dan winked at him.

"So, Rufus can I go in and see mom?" Serena smiled with eagerness.

"She's resting now. Maybe later."

"I don't get why they don't let us see her." Serena brought her hands to her hips.

"Serena, doctors required no stress for Lily. Not to mention how weak she still feels…Rest is all she needs. I promise you I will let you see her later."

"I'm counting on it." Serena pointed at Rufus and winked at him.

"Ok, I'll go back to Lily. If the doctor needs me I'm going to be in there." Rufus smiled at his older kids.

"Dad you need some rest too." Dan reminded him.

"The only thing I need right now is for Lily not to wake up alone. That's it." Rufus turned his back and left.

"I never imagined my parents to be so in love with each other." Scott said looking at Rufus making his way to Lily's room.

"Dad is just another man when Lily's around. They kind of complete each other." Dan smiled nonetheless.

"They are just perfect together." Serena had an adoring look on her face.

Rufus sat down on Lily's bed and stared at her for about an hour before she woke up. He looked at her and every thought ran away from his mind. She always had that kind of effect on him. Only Lily Rhodes had the ability to let him run out of breath. "You're awake." Rufus stroked her cheek with his thumb as Lily opened her eyes.

"How long did I sleep?" She asked rubbing her eyes.

"A couple of hours."

"My head hurts." Lily complained turning her face to the left to look at her husband.

"The doctor said it's normal if you feel a little dizzy or have an headache after a transfusion." Lily sighed. "What's wrong?" Rufus asked stroking her arm.

"Nothing." She lied.

"Lil, tell me what's on your mind." Rufus knew his wife way too good to not notice something was wrong with her.

"I'm scared for Angelica, I need to see her." Lily felt guilty for not staying at her daughter's side.

"Honey they won't let you see her unfortunately. You said you would be patient, remember?" Rufus leaned towards her and kissed her cheek.

"I know, but…"

"No buts." Rufus kissed her again. "You'll meet her when they will allow you to."

"Would you show me that picture again, please?"

"You know what? I'll send It to your phone, so that you can look at it whenever you want." Rufus took his phone out to send her the pic.

"Thanks." Lily smiled happily.

"Scott arrived about an hour ago. He's such a good kid." Rufus said after sending the picture to Lily.

"That's so sweet! Tell him I say hi and I can't wait to see him again." Lily said staring at her phone.

Rufus looked at his wife staring at the picture of Angelica, He already knew his heart would melt like ice under the sun, when his, now two favorite women in the world, would meet each other for the first time. "If Angelica will be half good as her brother then we're lucky."

"God, can you believe that we have another kid?" Lily locked eyes with Rufus.

"I am trying to get used to the idea." Rufus joked.

"Seriously Rufus….it's so weird. We are going to deal with bottles, diapers, sleepless nights and everything." It seemed like Lily was realizing just now what her life would be like for at least the next 3 years.

"I could not be more excited." Rufus grinned at her.

"Really?" Lily was surprised by his answer.

"Sure, it will be like going through it for the first time, you know?"

"I think we've walked down this road a couple of times already." Lily laughed slightly.

"Yes, but not together. So it will be like the first time to me." Every single word coming out of Rufus' mouth made Lily's heart beat faster.

"If you put it like that, I have to agree with you." Rufus leaned down and kissed her, Lily deepened the kiss cupping his face with her hands. They could not get enough of each other. The fear of losing each other brought them closer than ever. All of a sudden the door swung open and they heard a voice saying "For God's sake you are in a hospital! Behave!"

"Mother!" Lily's mouth dropped open when she turned around and noticed Cece standing in the doorway looking at them with disgust.

"Lillian." She replied grimly.

"Hi." One syllable was the only thing Lily managed to pronounce.

"Hello. Rufus." Cece walked in.

"Hi, Cece. I think you just broke in, doctors said Lily shouldn't receive visitors for now." Rufus got up from Lily's bed immediately.

"Oh please! I'm her mother, I am allowed."

"Who did you pay off?" Rufus asked right to her face.

"The brunette nurse." Cece admitted.

"Typical." He rolled his eyes.

"I'm glad you're here mother." Lily and Cece hugged.

"How do you feel?" Cece stroked Lily's arm tenderly.

"Not so well, but I'm getting better with the passing of every hour." Lily could not get rid of the smile she had on her face thanks to her husband.

"Where's the baby?" Cece sounded kind of excited at the thought of meeting her newborn granddaughter.

"She's in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit." Lily explained still smiling.

"Can I see her?"

"I'm sorry Cece, only parents are allowed at this stage of her permanency in the NICU." Rufus shook his head proudly.

"Well I am the grandmother, it has to count for something." Cece complained.

"Luckily not." Rufus tried to hide his complacency with a laugh.

"Rufus." Lily basted him.

"I'm sorry Cece. The kids wanted to meet their sister too, but It's not up to me whether someone can go in or not." Rufus explained politely.

"Maybe that brunette nurse has some friends over there." Cece smirked.

"Mother, please. I haven't seen her either yet."

"This is ridiculous! A mother should be allowed to see her baby." Lily's mother was very irritated now.

"They will allow me to see her as soon as I get better." Lily tried to sound convincing but by the look on Cece's face she was not so good at it.

"I should have come sooner. These doctors are going to hear me now."

"Cece there are rules in this hospital. They forbade Lily to see Angelica only because she could infect her in some way." Rufus tried to prevent a scene made by Cece.

"Angelica? So this is her name?" Nobody told her the name of the baby until then apparently.

"Angelica Sophia." Lily smirked looking at Rufus.

"I guess I can figure the last name by myself." Lily gave her a look. "I was joking, I hope the baby is ok." Cece smiled stroking her daughter's head.

"She is being monitored, she can't eat or breath on her own, so they are helping her." The image of her little girl covered with tubes and such made Lily instantly sad.

"I like the name you chose Lilian." Cece noticed her change of mood and moved onto a new subject.

"Rufus and the kids chose it with me to be honest." Lily took Rufus' hand and brushed her thumb against the back of it.

"Well, still is such a beautiful name." She said glancing at the look of love Rufus and Lily were giving each other.

Rufus decided to give some privacy to Lily and her mother, they hadn't seen each other in about six months anyway. When Cece left the room, Rufus rushed in. He missed Lily in those 30min they spent apart.

"Hey stranger!" Lily greeted him as he came back into her room.

"Already a stranger? And there I was missing my own wife while she was already erasing me from her memory." Rufus pouted and then sat down on Lily's bed.

"Never." She moved closer to him and gently kissed him.

"Do you feel tired or anything?" He stroked her cheek.

"No, I'm good." Lily smiled and peck a kiss on his lips again.

"Can I let the kids in then? I asked the doctors before and they said they can come in for a few minutes."

"Sure, I want to see them." Lily said with excitement.

"Ok, I'll be right back then." Rufus grinned and walked out.

As he got into the hallway he asked with thrill. "So, who wants to come see Lily?"

"I do!" Eric jumped off the chair he was sitting in raising his arm up.

"We can finally see her?" Serena was pleasantly surprised.

"Yes, let's go!" Serena, Eric, Dan, Jenny and Scott all followed his lead, but Chuck, who just got back to the hospital, stood still. "Chuck! Come on! Lily wants to see her kids." Rufus turned around and invited him to follow them. Chuck grinned and walked towards them. The kids entered the room running. Eric and Serena hopped into Lily's arms. They all kissed and hugged their mother and stepmother, happy to be able to check in on her in person. "How do you feel?" Serena asked Lily holding her hand.

"I feel good." Lily smiled at her eldest daughter.

"You scared us mom, a lot." Eric gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I know my dear and I am sorry for that. But I feel better now."

"It's all my fault, you shouldn't have come to my graduation, It's all because of me." Eric felt responsible for what happened since he found out Lily and the baby were rushed to the hospital.

"Eric don't be ridiculous. I was the one willing to come, nobody forced me to. I didn't want to miss your graduation. I am the one who is responsible." Lily stroked his cheek with her hand.

"No you're not. It's all because of me and if you didn't…"

"Eric, don't blame yourself." Rufus stopped his apology. "As I said to your mother, maybe it would have happened anyway."

"Yes, Rufus is right. Come here." Lily hugged her son.

"When are they going to discharge you?" Scott asked.

"I don't know yet."

"If you need anything in here you only need to ask, I'll make sure you'll get anything you want." Chuck smirked at Lily.

"Thank you Charles, it won't be necessary. I have my whole family reunited around me, I could not wish for more." Lily smiled from side to side, before locking eyes with her husband.

"Well, I wouldn't say the whole family. There's a little one missing." Jenny pouted.

"Yeah, I want to see her so badly." Lily turned her face to Jenny.

"And you will soon." Rufus gave his daughter a look. Jenny really didn't know when to shut up.

"The most important thing is that you're here and you're good and Angelica is fine too." Dan came to the rescue.

"In the end we won the debate about names." Jenny high fived with Eric, trying to take her embarrassment away.

"Her full name is Angelica Sophia Humphrey, so you half won." Serena snapped.

"Kids, do we really need to talk about it now?" Rufus put an end to it.

"Where's Cece?" Lily asked concerned.

"She was trying to corrupt a nurse to let her see her granddaughter the last time I saw her." Dan tried to contain himself by trying not to laugh.

"Ok, I'll handle it." Rufus sighed making his way out of the room.

"Cece will never change." Lily laughed looking at Eric and Serena on her left. "Scott I wanted to thank you for coming to NYC. It really means a lot to me." She said turning around to meet her oldest son's eyes.

"No problem. I wanted to meet my sister and check on you. I know we don't see each other very often, but I care about you, all of you." Scott was definitely the sweetest boy ever.

"It's the same for us, you know it. You are a part of this family." Lily smiled at him.

"Yes Scott, you are just as pretty as I am." Jenny pinched his cheek.

"Yeah. You could be twins." Eric made fun of her.

"I wonder who Angelica will look more like." Jenny said ignoring Eric's comment.

"I vote for Scott. They are the only two sharing the same parents among us." Dan stated pointing to his half brother.

"I think she will look like me, a lot." Jenny whipped her hair back proudly.

"Please, you don't have the same mother." Serena answered annoyed.

"So what? Scott and I share the same father and look at us." Jenny hugged her half brother. "Almost indistinguishable." They all laughed, even if Scott was a little bit embarrassed.

"Ok, Cece problem is solved." Rufus announced with satisfaction coming back into the room.

"Where is she now?" Lily asked him lifting her arm up to grab his arm. She pulled him closer to her.

"She left." He kissed her forehead. "She said she needed to freshen up."

"Is she staying at the Penthouse?" Eric asked with worry.

"No, I booked her a suite at the Palace earlier." Chuck smiled. "And you have a room too there, Scott."

"Thank you Charles." Lily grinned at him.

"Anytime." He winked at his step mother.

"So I gave you some time to spend with Lily, but she really needs to rest now. You should all go back home." Rufus said walking towards the door. They all groaned back in disappointment. "Enough. Say goodbye to Lily, you will see her tomorrow."

"You should come with us dad, you're a mess." Jenny placed a hand on his arm while Rufus was keeping the door open to let them leave.

"Thanks Jenny, very kind." Rufus replied a little annoyed.

"She's right Rufus. You didn't leave the hospital for a moment." Eric took Jenny's side.

"Because this is where I am supposed to be." He smiled at him. " Please kids…home now."

"Rufus I agree with Eric and Jenny, you should go get some sleep honey. You look exhausted." Lily softly smiled at him.

"Not gonna leave, sorry." Rufus walked back to Lily's side.

"Are you sure? I could stay here with her." Serena asked nicely.

"I already told you earlier. I wouldn't rest at all at home knowing I'm not around her. And that bed without her would be too cold for me to sleep in it." Rufus truly spoke from his heart.

"I am so happy you two found your way back together after so many years." Scott smiled big moving his eyes from Lily to Rufus and back.

"You just need to stay around them for like a day and you will get sick of all their lovey-dovey attitude." Eric snapped, Serena, Dan and Jenny nodded. The kids said their goodbyes to Lily and left, giving Rufus and Lily some privacy.

"Thank you Rufus." Lily took his hand into hers.

"For what?" Rufus asked surprised.

"Just for being in my life." Rufus leaned down and brushed his lips against Lily's. "I love you." She said breaking the kiss.

"I love you too." Rufus softly said looking straight into Lily's eyes.

Lily was slowly recovering from the surgery. The transfusion went well and her strength was coming back to her sooner than doctors expected. Rufus and her kids stayed with her the whole time, never leaving her alone. Rufus used to spend the nights at the hospital, sleeping without Lily at home was too much to handle. Doctors didn't allow him to stay into Lily's room at night, so he basically waited awake all night long for morning to come, so he could slip into Lily's room and be the first one she would see in the morning. A week had passed from the surgery and Lily was almost fully recovered. Angelica on the other hand wasn't doing as well as her mommy, the doctor didn't let her out of the incubator yet. She still needed machines to eat and breath unfortunately. That day after lunch with Dan and Jenny at the loft, Rufus went to visit Lily at the hospital. "Hey you're up!" Rufus grinned looking at his wife standing on her own feet again after a week spent in bed. Lily smiled and walked towards him interlacing her hands around his neck and pulling him into a passionate kiss. "So, how do you feel today?" Rufus broke the kiss.

"Better, a lot better. I am back on my feet, I thought this day would never come." Lily laughed.

"You look radiant." Rufus eyed her.

"Well I guess Serena spending half of my money to buy me all these negligee's and robes, worked for me." Lily pointed to tons of shopping bags at the feet of her bed.

"It was very nice of her though. I never heard you complaining about buying clothes before." Rufus smirked at her.

"Well…."

"Just kidding. I know what you meant." Rufus cut her off and then kissed her gently. Lily wrapped her arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss literally taking her husband's breath away.

"I need to talk to the doctors, you are perfectly healed." Rufus joked before kissing her again.

"Did the doctor say when they plan to discharge me?" Lily broke the kiss.

"She said in a couple of days you should be out of here." Rufus said thinking back at the conversation he had the previous morning with doctor Pratt.

"Me alone? No Angelica with us?" Lily was hoping their baby girl could come home with them.

"I'm sorry honey, they didn't say anything about the baby. They didn't let her out of the incubator yet, so It's quite impossible they will discharge her too."

"At least I will be able to finally meet her." Lily giggled.

"That you will." Rufus smiled and kissed her on the lips again.

"I can't wait to go back home, this hospital is making me sicker than I already am." Lily sat down on the bed.

"I know It's tough to stay here, but you have to hold on just for a couple of days more." Rufus stroked her head with the back of his hand.

"I will." Lily sighed.

"Your mother is going to leave once you come back home, right?"

"Rufus." Lily looked at him with annoyance.

"I am not the only one complaining,the kids are too." He held his hands up.

"Yeah…Nice try." Lily rolled her eyes.

"You said you're feeling a lot better yourself, we don't need Cece anymore. Can I book a flight for her?" The joke was definitely not over for Rufus.

"Rufus. She is my mother. If she wants to spend some time with me I cannot stand in her way. Besides she rushed to NYC as soon as she found out about me and the baby. She has never done something like that in the past."

"If you really are appreciating what she's doing for you, I'll try my best to appreciate it too." Rufus turned serious finally and smiled at his wife.

"Thank you." Lily lifted her face up. They locked eyes and in a couple of seconds they found themselves in each other's arms, kissing passionately.

"You need to stop making out in a hospital. It's so unhygienic!" Cece walked into Lily's room without knocking on the door.

"What can I say? We like the risk! Besides tour buses weren't a very hygienic environment either." Rufus winked at Cece, whose eyes were open wide now. Lily laughed. "I'll go check on Angelica, be back later." Rufus smirked at his wife.

"Ok, don't take long. I want news about her." Lily leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"Don't worry." And with that Rufus left the room.

As Rufus exited Lily's room he found Serena, Jenny, Eric and Dan waiting for him.

"We want to see Angelica, can you take us to see her?" Serena asked without letting him say a word.

"I don't know kids." Rufus shook his head.

"Come on dad! It's been five days since she's born, we want to her see her cute face in person, not on pictures." Jenny groaned.

"I can't take you in, only parents are allowed."

"But she's our sister!" Eric cried in disagreement.

"And I didn't say she is not your sister Eric, I said she's not your daughter."

"Dad, please. Don't make us pull a Cece on the nurses." Dan pleaded him nodding towards a nurse walking through the hall.

"She's still in the incubator."

"So? We'll watch her from the glass window, we don't want to go into the room." Eric answered obstinately.

"For now." Jenny smirked at him.

"Fine. Follow me then." Rufus lifted up a white flag.

"Yes!" Serena giggled clapping her hands.

When they arrived in the NICU, Rufus went to talk to the doctors, to ask them for permission for his kids to take a look at Angelica through the glass window.

"Ok, they say it's okay for you to peep from the glass window. I'll go inside." Rufus said before leaving the kids. They had excitement written all over their faces.

"Thank you Dad." Jenny screamed while he was entering the changing room to put the sterilized clothes on.

"Yes, thanks." Serena and Eric echoed her.

"Oh Gosh! Look at all these babies, they look sick." Serena said turning to look through the glass window.

"Well they wouldn't keep them here if they were fine Serena." Dan reminded her making Jenny and Eric laugh.

"I know, why do you all think I'm a dork?" Serena asked very annoyed.

"God only knows why!" Jenny said between a laugh and another.

"It's such a shame we already are into an hospital otherwise I would…."

"Shh….Look! That's Angelica!" Eric cut the soon to be a fight off pointing at the window. Rufus was now standing right next to an incubator with a little angel in it.

"She is so tiny!" Serena pouted.

"It looks like she can be broken in million little pieces if you touch her." Eric nodded.

"Milo was 3 times her size when he was born." Dan's mouth dropped open at the sight of his baby sister.

"She is a month younger than a regular newborn." Serena noticed with her eyes still glued to Angelica.

"Do you think she will be okay?" Jenny asked with a shaky voice.

"I hope so." Dan answered with a worried look on his face.

"Me too." Eric nodded putting a hand on his shoulder.

"She looks so delicate…..It breaks my heart to look at dad staring at her in that glass box." Jenny wiped a tear from her eye.

"It is kind of sad, isn't it?" Serena nodded looking at her.

"You know what? It is so not! Our baby sister is alive, she could have died, but she didn't. So please, positive thoughts."

"Eric is right, she is so cute! She'll be fine." Dan wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders.

"Yeah….she definitely looks like a Humphrey." Jenny said resting her head on Dan's shoulder.

"From this distance you are able to tell who she looks like?" Her brother asked with surprise.

"Didn't you know your sister had Superman's super sight Dan?" Serena was the one making jokes now.

"Very funny." Jenny gave her a look.

"Babies change every minute at that age, you cannot tell who she looks more like just yet." Dan explained. He surely learned something from his experience with Milo.

"I agree….Dan had a baby after all." Eric tried not to laugh.

"More or less." Serena laughed loud.

"Well no matter who she looks more like she is beautiful." Dan snapped smiling at Angelica.

"Yeah." They all nodded bringing their attention back to their newborn sister.

When Rufus came out of the NICU Jenny ran to him and wrapped her arms around his chest. They were all very happy He let them peer through the glass window. After saying goodbye to the kids, Rufus went back to Lily eager to give her some news about Angelica.

"So? How is she?" Lily asked anxiously as soon as Rufus entered her room.

"Doctor Greene and doctor Doherty said she is getting better. She gained a little bit of weight, which is awesome. And finally they'll let her out of the incubator for the first time next week if she keeps doing well." He grinned.

"Really?" Lily couldn't believe Rufus's words. She felt happiness running through her veins all of a sudden.

"Yes." Rufus smiled nodding.

"Oh Gosh I want to be there. I want to touch her, I want to hold her, I want to feel her. Rufus promise me you'll take me there."

"You will be discharged in a couple of days, don't worry. I think they will let you see her." Rufus took her face into his hands.

"Let's hope so." Lily smiled looking at him.

"I am very confident." The two of them kissed.

"The kids peered at her through the glass window. They were so excited!" Rufus said after Lily broke the kiss.

"I bet they were." Lily's expression immediately turned sad.

"What's that sad face for?"

"Cece told me she saw the baby and now the kids have seen her too. I am the only one who didn't meet her essentially." Lily moved her face away.

"Lily, doctors were clear. Before you can see her you need to be fully recovered." Rufus gently turned her face to him.

"Yes, but Cece and the kids saw her through the glass window, why can't I? I won't enter the room." Lily had a begging tone.

"It's just a couple of days more to wait." Rufus stroked her cheek.

"Every day I spend away from her is a pain. She is my daughter too Rufus, you know?" Lily was getting inexplicably upset.

"And what is that supposed to mean? I am not the one keeping you away from her Lily." Rufus was unpleasantly surprised by Lily's tone.

"I am asking you to let me see her through the glass window and you are disallowing me." She said firmly.

"I just asked you to wait two more days."

"Yes, and you know why you did so? Because you will never understand, not even in a million years, how much it hurts for a mother to be unable to meet her own newborn daughter." Lily was looking at him like he was her worst enemy now.

"I am sorry…."

"No, you are not Rufus!" Lily interrupted him rottenly. "When I gave Scott up my mother didn't allow me to meet him, not even once because she was afraid I would change my mind. Now I feel like I am going through that journey all over again." Tears were filling in her eyes.

"What are you talking about? I am not trying to take the baby away from you or anything." Rufus was quite shocked by Lily's accusations.

"You have no clue how important the first days of a child's life to bond with his mother."

"Well, if we are into this situation it's not my fault." Rufus was the one making accusations now.

"And whose fault is it? Mine maybe?" Rufus didn't answer and looked away. "Leave me alone, please." Lily turned her back to him.

"Lily!" Rufus didn't want to fight, that was not what they needed.

"Please." Lily implored him.

"Whatever!" Rufus left the room then, slamming the door. He took few steps away from that door and then instantly turned around. Leaving Lily that way, fighting over something like that, those were things Rufus would do in the past, not now after being that close to losing his wife forever. He walked into the room again feeling like an ass. "It's not your fault Lily." He said out of breath looking at his wife. Lily had her back turned on him and was silently crying. Rufus moved closer to her and turned her around placing his hands on her hips. As he saw the tears running from Lily's eyes his heart sank, now he felt like a perfect ass. Lily had been through so much, his blame was the last thing she deserved. Besides he didn't even think for a minute it was Lily's fault. He just overreacted to Lily's accusations. Lily looked at him with her big swollen hazel eyes and sobbed hard. Rufus pulled her into his arms and embraced her body, holding her tightly. "I am sorry, I am so so sorry." Rufus whispered in her ear. Lily nodded and wrapped her arms around his chest. She knew she owed him an apology too after all. "I know you are not trying to take Angelica away from me. I apologize if my words hurt you somehow."

"It's okay. I love you, you know that right?" Rufus kissed her cheek softly.

"I think I said those things because of my hormones or something like that, Rufus. I could not be happier and feel safer at the idea of you taking care of Angelica. It's just that all of this brings back so…" Lily was rambling. To stop her Rufus pulled away from their hug and put his hand on the back of her neck, pushing her head against his face, giving their lips the chance to meet. Lily felt like she was taking oxygen from his kiss and when Rufus tried to break the kiss, she cupped his face with her hands, gluing her tongue to his. "We are unbelievable! We fought in the middle of this craziness we are going through." Rufus laughed after Lily let him break their kiss.

"I know." Lily laughed resting her forehead against his chin.

"I am sorry Lil, I truly am. Let's forget about it, ok?" He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her waist again.

"Ok." Lily nodded.

"I love you." Rufus tightened his hold and moved his face sideways to brush his lips against her neck.

"I love you too my love." Lily rested her forehead on his shoulder to give him better access to her neck. Rufus kept on kissing her and sucking at her skin and then moaned "I know I shouldn't say this, but I cannot wait to take you home anymore, Angelica spared us a month of torture."

"You can call me a bad mother, but I swear to God every time you touch me…that is the only thing I am able to think about."

"Thank God!" Rufus laughed along with Lily and the two them lingered into each other's arms for a little while. Lily pulled away and looked into her husband beautiful green eyes, she knew she would forgive him anything. The thought of a possible missing out on him and Angelica could not be further from her mind now. They were there together, again, stronger than ever thanks to that little angel who came into their lives.


	13. Chapter 13 Baby mama

Finally the day had arrived. Lily was leaving the hospital for good that Wednesday morning, after 10 days of hospitalization. Rufus helped her pack her stuff, more than happy to take his beautiful wife back home. Lily, on the other hand, was a little bit less thrilled to leave the hospital in view of the fact that Angelica could not leave the NICU and go home with her and Rufus. "Ready to go?" Rufus asked her zipping what seemed to be her last bag.

"Yes. Why aren't the kids here?" Lily questioned him taking a look around.

"I asked them to wait for you at the penthouse." Rufus smirked.

"Oh, ok." Lily stated a little disappointed. "The car is already outside?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Rufus could not help but smile.

"No, I think I got everything packed." Lily counted her bags and looked around the room to make sure she didn't forget anything. Rufus laughed shaking his head. "Follow me." He took her hand and guided her

out of the room.

"Rufus?" Lily asked looking at him a little bemused.

"I have a little surprise for you." He turned his face around and winked at her.

"Don't tell me…." Lily realised where Rufus was taking her to.

"Yes!" He cried in excitement dragging her.

"Are you kidding? Doctor Pratt said I had to come back later today to meet her." Lily could not believe she was finally about to meet her newborn daughter.

"I asked her to lie to you, I wanted to surprise you."

Lily stopped walking, astonished. "What?" Rufus turned around still holding her hand. Lily pulled him closer, wrapping one arm around his neck. They locked eyes for a second before Lily's eyes lowered to his lips and she leaned forward kissing him fiercely. Rufus brought both his hands to her lower back pulling her closer to him. The make out session didn't last long, they had a baby waiting to meet her mommy. Rufus introduced his wife to Dr. Doherty and Dr. Greene before they made them change into proper clothes. Lily was a little shocked, she didn't know she had to wear all that stuff to enter the NICU. Rufus explained to her it was just a precaution, but still Lily felt like she was walking into a morgue and not a baby hospital ward. Rufus led her to the incubator in which Angelica was laid in. Lily's heart was beating faster every step she took closer to her daughter. There were multicolored balloons with "I love my mom" written all over them and a huge balloon in the shape of the words "Nice to meet you mommy" standing behind the incubator. Lily's mouth dropped open at the sight of all of that. She wanted to thank Rufus, but her eagerness to see her baby for the first time was too much right now. As she got closer to the incubator she saw her baby girl, sleeping. Angelica was sporting a "My mommy rocks" bodysuit, which didn't fit her perfectly, it looked at least 2 sizes too big. Lily's eyes filled with tears. She placed a hand on the glass box and stared at her daughter. They had taken away the tubes that fed her. Lily was scrutinising every detail of her body with her eyes. Tears were covering her face. Her little girl was finally in front of her eyes, Lily was so happy she couldn't say a single word. Angelica had something alluring in her, Lily was unable to take her eyes off of her. A big smile appeared on her face as she saw her moving her tiny feet. It was a dream come true to finally see her. "Today we are going to take her out for the first time since she was born. Angelica is doing good and after 10 days we say It's time for her to be held by her mommy and her daddy." Doctor Doherty said grinning. Lily turned around and looked at Rufus, he smiled big with tears in his eyes. Lily couldn't resist, she throw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders. They both exiled a sigh of relief while they waited for the nurse to take Angelica out of the incubator. "Mrs. Humphrey we would like you to take your top off. We usually go for the Kangaroo care to help mothers forge a bond with their new baby. It's a skin to skin technique. You are going to place Angelica on your chest underneath your shirt, so she will be resting directly on your skin." The doctor explained to a very confused Lily.

"Oh, ok." Lily smiled with excitement. Rufus took her hand and gently rubbed it with his thumb.

"You can take the hospital gown and your shirt off behind that screen, I'll hand you the baby with a little blanket covering her. We need to take the bodysuit off of her in order to let her have skin to skin contact with you." The nurse smiled at Lily.

"Sure." Lily went behind the screen and did as told. Her hands were shaking, she was so excited to hold her baby for the first time. She heard the baby crying and assumed they had just taken her out of the incubator waking her up. Rufus got closer to the changing table where the nurse laid Angelica on and gently caressed her little hand. It was so soft. Touching his baby girl for the first time brought him to tears. "Do you want to take her to her mommy?" The nurse asked after taking the bodysuit off her.

"Yes please." Rufus nodded wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Here you go." The nurse lifted Angelica up and gently placed her into Rufus' arms. She was so light Rufus couldn't even believe she was alive. The baby stopped crying as she felt her daddy's warm body embracing her. A tear ran down Rufus cheek again while he kissed the top of her head. "Let's go meet mommy." He whispered trying not to sob. Lily saw Rufus coming behind the screen with Angelica in his arms. The sight of her husband and their baby together made her burst into tears. Rufus walked to the chair where Lily was sitting in and leaned down, handing the baby to his wife. Lily's entire body was shaking, she was so emoted. At the feel of her baby's soft skin touching her chest she shivered. Angelica instinctively cuddled into her arms, slightly brushing her head against her chest. Lily sighed as she felt her little girl's hand resting between her breast. Rufus' heart melted looking at how comfortable Angelica seemed in Lily's arms. It looked like she was in her little heaven. Lily smiled and gently rested her head against Angelica's bald head. "God! I love you so much." Lily said while tears were helplessly running down her cheeks. The nurse came with a pink blanket and wrapped both Lily and Angelica in it. Lily thanked her and brought the baby a little bit higher up on her chest, placing her into a vertical position, as the nurse suggested to her. Angelica naturally nuzzled her head in the concavity between Lily's neck and shoulder. Lily felt her soft breath against her skin and giggled caressing her head. It felt so natural to her to handle a baby after all those years since the last time she had one to look after. Angelica really was an angel, she didn't cry once while she was laying on her mother's chest. Lily was spurting happiness from every pore of her body. Rufus looked at them together and he felt like his heart was beating out of his chest for all the joy that sight gave him. His eyes were gazed on Lily's left hand, which was gently caressing her head. Lily noticed that dreamy look on Rufus' face and smiled at him. "You said she was amazing, but I didn't think this much. She is beyond amazing." Rufus grinned at her and got down on his knees to be closer to his girls. Lily took his hand into hers and kissed the back of it softly, before turning her attention back to Angelica. "She is smelling the scent of your skin Mrs. Humphrey. The skin to skin therapy will help the baby to get out of the NICU sooner." Lily smiled looking down at her baby. "Are you planning to breastfeed her?"

"I would love to. I breastfed both of my children in the past, so I am definitely willing to nurture her too."

"Have you tried to pump yet? She is too young to be normally breastfed."

"I have no milk so far unfortunately. The doctor said it's because she was born a month early and I had a c-section." Lily felt guilty for not being able to breastfeed at first, but after a long talk with Dr. Pratt she realised there was nothing to blame herself for. That was a natural process, she or medication could do nothing about it.

"Yes, it's pretty normal. We are giving her formula for now, but I'm sure you will be able to breast feed her very soon."

"Yeah." Lily nodded.

"I think I'll leave you alone for a little while, If you need me you know where to find me." The nurse smiled at the happy family.

"Thanks". Lily smiled at her before she left.

"See? I told you she was beautiful." Rufus whispered getting closer to Angelica.

"What?" Lily asked confused looking at Rufus.

"I was talking to Angelica. She knows what I'm talking about." Rufus smirked at Lily.

"The two of you are already sharing secrets, huh?" Lily kissed Angelica's forehead.

"Seeing you together is giving me more happiness I ever thought possible." Lily smiled big at him. "I can't wait to take you home little angel." Rufus kissed her small hand. "Look! She opened her eyes!" Rufus cried in excitement.

"Oh my God! Rufus you said she looked like me, but she is definitely the proud daughter of her father, look at these little eyes!" Lily was amazed by the similar color of eyes Angelica and Rufus had.

"She is so precious!" Rufus kissed her little hand again.

"She stole your eyes honey." Lily smiled big at Rufus.

"Well….at least now we know who the father is." Rufus laughed.

"Yeah….I was still unsure if it was you or one of my million lovers." Lily stated with annoyance.

"Guess I won." Rufus lifted his fist up in the air in sign of victory.

"Stop it, please?" Lily tried not to sound amused, which she totally was.

"I'm just teasing." Rufus stroked her arm gently.

"I know." Lily grinned at him. "You better get used to your father's stupid jokes soon Angelica." Lily laughed before kissing her baby haed once again.

"Ah ah very funny." Rufus stated with annoyance.

"Just teasing." She winked at him.

"I could stay here looking at you for the rest of my life, you know?" Rufus'eyes lowered on his two girls and suddenly he felt like all his world had meaning.

"I would stay like this forever. But she will grow up." Lily sighed.

"Sadly." Rufus nodded in agreement.

"But she will always be daddy's girl, right sweetheart?" Lily stroked Angelica's head softly.

"That she will….but for now she seems to enjoy her mommy more. Look at the way she stares at you." Rufus pointed to Angelica, whose face was lifted up to look at Lily. Her eyes were captured by Lily.

"I know. I love her so much! I never thought I could feel that much love for another human being other than you and my kids. But here she is, taking my breath away."

"I think It's a hereditary gift." He caressed Lily's hand.

"You think?" Lily smirked at her husband flattered.

"I can only speak for myself but after all this time, you still have that effect on me." They locked eyes till Lily felt Angelica nuzzling her head against her neck. "Hey cutie pie" Lily smiled at her caressing her bare back.

"I dreamt of holding you in my arms for the last nine months, you have no idea how great it is Angelica." Lily kissed her again. "Nobody is going to take me away from you, ever again. You're my angel from above." Lily rested her head against her. Rufus' heart was about to explode for the joy of that moment. Lily was now finally feeling good, all the pain she had been through, all the time she had to stay away from her little girl, all the tears she had cried were definitely wiped away. It was even more beautiful than Lily thought it would be to hold Angelica close to her, to smell the essence of her skin, to feel the soft touch of her little fingers on her body, it was terrifyingly wonderful. She missed that feeling of holding your own baby, focusing on her as the world stopped existing, that need to protect her from all the danger and the pain, to be her only salvation. With Angelica it was all ten times amplified, since she almost lost her forever. Besides she was more mature now than she could have ever been with Serena and Eric in the past. Lily had experience on her side and it made it all much more thrilling and appreciable. And there was one thought that she could not get rid of, Angelica was Rufus' daughter, the love of her life, the only man she always wanted by her side and the only father she always wished her children to have. "What are you thinking about?" Rufus brought her back to Earth.

"I was thinking I fell in love with you today all over again because of this little bundle of joy." Lily looked at Rufus and then back at Angelica.

"She does give you that feeling, doesn't she?" Rufus' heart just melted at Lily's words.

"Yes, but I guess the one to blame is not Angelica but you." She looked at him with love in her eyes.

"If this is my guilt, then I declare myself not innocent your honor." Rufus kissed her on her bare shoulder.

Lily laughed. "I love the fact that only by looking into her eyes I will see yours."

Rufus smiled at her and kissed Angelica's hand one more time. "I love you both to death."

"We love your daddy too, don't we?" Lily said making a weird voice and rubbing her daughter's back. Angelica moved her little arm up and wrapped it lightly around Lily's neck. Lily sighed again and let a tear run down her eye again. Finally she had happy tears to cry.  
Rufus and his wife left the NICU shortly against their will. Angelica needed to be fed and put back into the incubator. Lily and Rufus asked the doctors if they could come visit her later in the day and they got a 'yes' as an answer, which only made their perfect day even more perfect. Holding each other's hand they left the hospital and hopped into their waiting car. Lily held tight to Rufus' chest, resting her head on his shoulder, just happy to head home finally. Rufus kissed her temple and clinched his arm around her shoulder, finally that fear of losing one of them was leaving his body. "Mom!" Serena cried as she heard the elevator opening.

"Hi!" Lily greeted all her kids while Serena rushed towards her and hugged her tight.

"Welcome back home."

"Thank you Serena."

"We are so happy to have you back home." Eric hugged her firmly.

"I am happy to be finally home too." Lily hugged her son back and kissed his cheek.

"We missed you around here Lily." Jenny greeted her too.

"I missed being around you kids too." Lily smiled nodding.

"Where's Dan?" Rufus asked looking around the living room.

"He apologises but he got stuck in Brooklyn. He said he'll come by later." Jenny explained. Rufus had an angry look on his face and before he could

complain Lily intruded in their conversation ."That's ok." She rubbed her husband's back and pecked a kiss on his jaw.

"I thought Chuck would be here too." He looked at Eric and Serena.

"Chuck phoned me earlier, he had a business meeting. Rufus it's not that I needed a welcome back party, cool down." Lily cupped his face with both her hands and turned it to her.

"They promised me they would be here." Rufus pouted.

"I know you wanted to have a family reunion, we'll have it when the whole family will be at home. Ok?" Lily smiled at him and then kissed him on the lips.

"I am a little bit hungry, what are we having for lunch?" Jenny asked to put an end to the soon-to-become a true make out session of Rufus and Lily.

"We need to get back to the hospital in a couple of hours so, what do you say about some sandwiches?" Rufus said rubbing his own hands.

"Yummy!" Jenny said with her typical sarcastic tone.

"Ok, what do you want to eat then?" Rufus rolled his eyes.

"Why don't we go out?" Serena proposed with a grin.

"Lily just got back home Serena, I guess she deserves to spend some time in her own home." Rufus had a point there.

"Lily can speak for herself and Lily says she would be more than happy to eat anything her husband will cook for her." She smiled big at him before leaning towards and kissing him quickly on the lips.

"Great! What about Waffles?" Rufus' joked.

"Dad!" Jenny cried with a disgusted look on her face.

"I'm going out with them if you make waffles." Lily nodded towards their kids.

"You were the one who said you would eat anything made by me."

"Yes, but..."

"I was just kidding." Rufus cut her off and kissed her.

"I'm so happy she's home I am not even able to complain about all the kissing. Go figure!" Eric brought his hands up.

Lily and Rufus laughed loud. "I'll make some pasta, ok?"

"Carbs, great! My hips will thank you later Rufus." Serena grumbled.

"Pasta is good." Lily glared at her daughter.

"Fine." Serena sighed.

"Guess we're back to what we used to be." Eric grinned happily.

"Don't make that happy face, you are going to freak out once Angelica comes home." Rufus pointed at him with a grin on his face.

"We'll I'm training myself, I'll fight her screams with headphones." Eric was pretty clever after all.

"Stop it! My daughter is an angel! She didn't cry once today." Lily gave a look to both Eric and Rufus, she surely was a proud mama.

"So how was it? Holding her for the first time I mean, it must have been such an experience." Serena asked rubbing her mother's arm.

"I think I never felt more fulfilled in my whole life." Lily's eyes were speaking for herself.

"Music to your other two children's ears." Eric pouted.

"Look who's jealous!" Jenny made fun of him.

"I am not jealous."

"I'm sorry Eric and Serena. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Lily tried to have them forgive her by putting a big smile on her face.

"No hurting here. I know what you meant." Serena kissed her mother's cheek.

"I was not hurt either." Eric shook his head.

"Liar!" Serena and Jenny cried in unison.

"Girls give him a break please. Angelica will need Lily more than all of you put together, so you better get used to it." Rufus said from behind the counter.

"Hey, talk to him." Jenny pointed to Eric with amusement.

"You are so annoying!" Eric groaned in frustration.

"Hey, hey. Enough. Jenny, Serena and Eric go set the table." Rufus jumped in with perfect timing.

"I think I will have to be more cautious next time Angelica will be the subject of our conversations." Lily had the "oops" look on her face, which make her so adorable in Rufus' eyes.

"Which basically means everyday from ten days ago on." They both laughed.

After lunch Eric and Jenny helped Rufus with cleaning the table, while Lily and Serena were chatting on the couch. Apparently Serena had just started to date a new guy. The phone started to ring. "Honey can you take it please? We're kind of busy over here." Rufus gently asked his wife to pick up the phone. "Sure." Lily got up and smirked at her husband whilst reaching over the counter. "Hello?" It took Lily exactly 3sec to turn completely white. "We're on our way." She said without taking a breath. Rufus didn't notice anything, he was showing Eric how to put the dishes in the dishwasher, he had his own system and wanted him to learn it. Eric didn't look so enthusiastic of Rufus' lecture, but he could not say no to him, he looked so proud of his Humphrey Method as he liked to call it. "Rufus…." Lily stammered a little.

"Yes?" Rufus turned around with a smile on his face, having Lily back home brought all of them back to normality and it felt very good.

"It was the hospital." Lily instantly burst into tears, covering her face with her hands.

"What?" Rufus ran to her and took her into his arms. "What happened?"

"I don't know. They only asked us to get over there now."

"Something happened to the baby?" Rufus pulled away and kept her at arms length.

"It was Doctor Greene on the phone." Rufus hugged her again, more tightly this time stroking her head. "Let's go." Rufus pulled away and walked towards the couch to take Lily's bag.

"Rufus, what if something happened to our baby? How will I ever be able to forgive myself? She was okay a few hours ago. She was in my arms for God's sake!" Lily's voice was coming out like a scream, but it was all because of her sobbing as hard as she never did in her entire life. "Come here." Rufus wrapped his arms around her body again, gently pushing her head onto his chest. "Don't cry." He kissed her temple and held her even closer to him, until she wrapped her arms around his chest, sobbing harder. "We'll find out what happened only by getting there." Lily nodded and pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes with her fingertips.

"Wait! We're coming with you." Serena got up from the couch and walked towards her mom and her stepfather.

"It's probably not a good idea Serena."

"We want to come." Jenny said resolutely.

"We'll call you to later." Rufus didn't want the kids to come to the hospital. As far as they know anything could have happened, even the worst.

"Rufus, please." Eric implored him.

"Let us go." Lily's eyes were starting to fill with tears again. Serena hugged her and sighed whilst watching Lily and Rufus disappear into the elevator less than a minute later.

The ride to the hospital was a real torture for both of them. They didn't know what happened, they didn't know what to expect, if Angelica was among that 10% of premature infants. Rufus didn't leave Lily's hand for a moment and that gave her more strength that she thought it would. Once they arrived at the hospital, they literally ran into the NICU. The nurses didn't let them in, which obviously was not a good sign to both of them. Anxiousness was taking over them whilst they were waiting in the lobby for one of the doctors to give them some news. Ten minutes later Dr. Greene and Dr. Doherty both came out of the NICU's sliding doors, the look on their faces was promising nothing good. "Thank God!" Rufus exiled at the sight of the two doctors.

"What happened?" Lily asked with a shaky voice.

"We realised it was not a good idea taking Angelica out of the incubator so soon. Her immune system was still very very weak and we found out later she already contracted what we call a Neonatal Sepsis." Doctor Greene explained.

"What is it?" Lily's eyes widened.

"It's a blood infection." Rufus and Lily looked at each other in confusion.

"A blood infection? How is that possible?" Rufus had a snappish tone in his voice.

"It usually occurs during the delivery of the baby, but it can happen even after that if the baby stays in the hospital for a long period of time or has a catheter in a blood vessel." Doctor Greene uncomplainingly clarified.

"But Angelica was fine this morning." Lily could not get out of her head the image of her baby girl nuzzling and cuddling in her arms.

"We know that, but she started to show symptoms of a Neonatal sepsis shortly after you left, we did some tests and found out our she indeed has this infection." Doctor Doherty spoke up.

"What now? Is there a treatment or something?" Lily was scared they had no treatment for this particular kind of infection.

"We started giving her antibiotics at the very instant we saw something was not right with her. Now she feels a lot better." Doctor Greene softly smiled.

"Can we see her?" Rufus was not willing to take a 'no' as an answer.

"This is the real matter Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey. I think Angelica will have to stay into the incubator for a little longer than we planned and obviously no contact with the external will be allowed." Doctor Doherty gave them the bad news.

"So how long until we can touch her again?" Lily felt like someone just ripped her heart out of her chest.

"We can't be sure." Dr. Doherty shrugged his shoulders.

"We are trying our best to have her immune system grow stronger, but Angelica is a premature infant and these kind of things happen all the time." Dr. Greene stated trying to let them see the glass half full and not half empty.

"But she is not going to die or have permanent damages, right?" Lily's voice was shaking, it was such a pain to hear a positive answer to that question. A pain she was not able to handle.

"Of course not. We are monitoring her. Everything is under control." Dr. Greene grinned at Lily, who sighed and intertwined her fingers into Rufus' hand, squeezing it.

"When will we be able to see her again?" Rufus rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.

"For today we can't let you in again. The glass window is the only alternative we can give you to at least take a look at her." Dr. Doherty tried to sound nice.

"We understand." Rufus nodded.

"Just please tell me she's going to be okay." Lily needed to be reassured once again.

"She will Mrs. Humphrey. We are taking care of your little angel as if she were ours." Dr. Greene rubbed her arm smiling.

"T-t-thank you." Lily stuttered.

"Yes, thanks." Rufus shook both their hands before they left them in the empty lobby. Lily turned to Rufus and wrapped her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder. Rufus kissed her cheek and held her close to him wrapping his arms around her waist. As she felt her husband's muscular arms around her body Lily sighed and started to cry. It seemed like that nightmare had no ending. How long would it take now to take their baby home with them? Rufus tried to comfort her, but he knew there was nothing he could do or say to cheer her up. He was feeling like crap himself anyway. Lily stopped crying after a couple of minutes but didn't leave her husband's arms, she nuzzled her head against his neck smelling his cologne instead. Rufus rubbed her back gently and kissed her head before pulling away. They locked eyes for a couple of seconds, before Lily threw her arms at him again. She needed his support, she needed Rufus more than anything else right now. Rufus suggested to call the kids at home, to tell them what happened. Lily agreed and made the phone call. Once they reassured their other kids everything was fine with Angelica for now, they headed to the NICU, stopping by the glass window. Lily started sobbing again as she saw Angelica in the distance. Rufus placed an arm around her hips and gently moved her closer to his side. Lily turned her face to him, her swollen eyes lowering on it. "It's gonna be ok, she's gonna be ok." Rufus kissed her salty lips and wiped her tears away with his thumb from her cheek. Lily rested her head on his shoulder and stared at their tiny baby girl in the incubator. Rufus sighed, not being allowed to enter the NICU was even worse than not being able to touch her for God knows how long. The hours were passing and Lily and Rufus spent the entire afternoon and evening looking at their little angel through the glass window. Rufus decided to grab something to eat at the cafeteria, but didn't really want to move from there. "You need to eat something Lil. You just got out of the hospital. Let's go eat something."

"No. I'm not gonna leave her now that I can stay with her." Lily frowned.

"You are staring at her through a glass window, it's not like we're at her side." Rufus took her hand into his.

"She knows I'm here. She can feel my presence, our presence Rufus." Lily squeezed his hand and smiled at him.

"Through a glass window? I don't think so." Rufus shook his head a little amused.

"She does, trust me." Lily was hurt by Rufus' attitude but her eyes caught her baby girl again through the glass window and she couldn't help but smile at her.

"Ok, then we'll come back later once we get something in your stomach." Rufus gently brushed some hair out of her face.

"Rufus, I am not even hungry." Lily pouted.

"It doesn't make any difference. Let's go." Rufus pulled her to follow him.

"Why don't you go buy something to eat and I'll wait for you here?" Lily bit her lip.

"Fine." He moaned against her lips before kissing her. Lily smiled nonetheless whilst she watched him walk away.

Three hours later Rufus and Lily were back home. The doctors basically kicked them out, since they spent 7 hours straight looking at Angelica through the glass window. Besides there was really nothing they could do by staying there longer. They were both worn out because of the day they just had. Their little girl scared them to death, but antibiotics were starting to give her benefits and everything seemed fine again. The real issue for them was to be strong enough to cope with the not being allowed to touch or hold their baby for a long time thing. Angelica's discharge had been surely postponed furthermore. It was hard for Rufus and Lily to find the motivations to go through all of that, it seemed like a never-ending nightmare. They would do anything for their baby girl, but she had to hold on and fight herself in order to give them hope. "Finally tonight you'll sleep in your own bed again." Rufus rubbed her back before opening the door of their bedroom for her.

"Not that you have slept home in the last 10 days." Lily walked into the room and saw tons of red roses petals disseminated all over their king sized bed and a chocolate box right in the middle of it. "Oh God!" Rufus sighed in embarrassment.

"Rufus." Lily was at a loss of words.

"I am Sorry, Lily. I totally forgot about this little surprise I made for you earlier in the day. It was before we headed to the hospital, I didn't know something like that would happen." Rufus blushed, he felt like a moron. "I know honey and It's beautiful!" Lily half smiled turning to Rufus.

"It would have been much more appreciated if only Angelica didn't have what she had today." Rufus sighed and closed his eyes.

"I know, but I really am touched." Lily briefly kissed him on the lips. "This is so romantic!" She cried amazed wrapping one arm around Rufus shoulder.

"Well, that was the whole point I guess. It doesn't make much sense now though. I'll get rid of everything in less than 5min." Rufus walked toward the bed and started to clean up all the petals from the bed.

"Rufus." Lily brought herself closer to him.

"What?" He stopped without even turning around to face her. He felt too embarrassed.

"I didn't get the chance to tell you this before, today." Lily wrapped her arms around his chest from behind. " I just want to thank you." She whispered the last two words into his ear.

"I did nothing." Rufus shook his head and turned around with Lily's arms still gripping to his body.

"You did everything that needed to be done and more." Lily looked into his eyes and gently stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"Lily." Rufus tried to find the words to explain to his wife how much he missed her during the last 10 days, how much he needed her by his side, how much he wanted to see the smile back on her face, but he was unable to translate his thoughts into words.

"Thank you." Lily softly kissed his lips. "I love you Rufus, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I love you too." Rufus wrapped his arms around her shoulders and slightly moved his left hand up and down her back.

"I think I'll go take a shower, I have that aweful smell of hospital still on me." Lily said with unmistakable disgust. Rufus nodded and kissed her cheek before getting back to his previous activity, tearing down all the romanticism from their bedroom.

"Hey" Lily knocked on the bathroom door an hour later. "Are you coming to bed?" She asked when Rufus opened the door with his robe on.

"Yes, in a minute." He answered politely.

"Ok." Lily nodded, before closing the bathroom door behind her back. "Is everything ok?" Lily felt something was not so right with Rufus and needed to ask him what was wrong as soon as he climbed into their bed next to her.

"Yes, I'm just tired." Rufus faked a smile.

"It never took you so long in there. Are you sure you're ok?" Rufus never spent more than 15minutes under the shower, that was such a woman prerogative.

"Absolutely sure." Rufus leaned down and kissed her cheek before laying down on the bed with his back at Lily. His wife stared at him confused. They didn't sleep in the same bed for ten days and he was there laying on his side of the bed without saying a word, without giving her a proper kiss or a hug, nothing. As much as it annoyed her, Lily decide to put her pride aside and make the first move. "Can I at least give my husband a proper goodnight kiss?" Lily moved closer to him and wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling his back against her chest while she asked so. Rufus turned his face around and slightly smiled at her, then pecked a quick kiss on her lips. Lily was very surprised by his behavior and decided to make the last effort by turning his face around again with her hand on his jaw and kissing him passionately. As Lily tried to deepened the kiss Rufus pulled away. "Enough. What the hell is wrong with you?" She groaned.

"I'm…I'm….sorry." Rufus stammered.

"For what?" Lily was running out of patience now.

"I feel so embarrassed Lil, that's all." Rufus covered his face with his hands just like a baby would do after he got caught doing something wrong.

"Oh please Rufus! I am not so touchy. You can always make it up to me for that kiss." Lily seductively smirked at him taking his hands off his face.

"I was not referring to the kiss." Rufus turned his head and looked at her.

"I don't get it." Lily shook her head.

"I feel embarrassed for the little surprise I made for you earlier. Now it seems like I couldn't wait to have sex with you and I cared about nothing else." He finally said what was bothering him so much.

"Rufus we already talked about it." Lily stroked his cheek with the back of her hand. "You couldn't know that what happened was going to happen. Angelica got that infection and we had to rush to the hospital again and…."

" I know" He trailed her off. "But you just got out of the hospital, you could have died, you had a surgery and maybe your body is not ready to go back to the way we were before you got pregnant. And I didn't think for a moment about all these things. The only thought in my mind was getting you laid on your back. What the hell was I thinking?"

"Rufus, after more than 8 months of fasting, I bet you're a little bit hungry honey." Lily laughed at her own joke. "I myself said I couldn't wait anymore to spend my nights with you when I was still at the hospital."

"I know….but you didn't mean right away after you get discharged." Rufus noticed harshly.

"I didn't mean right away, but I did mean I cannot wait." Lily closed the distance between them and before she could brush her lips against his, Rufus said "I feel like a teenager, it was so stupid of me!"

"Rufus! That was so romantic! It reminded me how it feels to be home….with you." She grinned at him.

"You're just saying this because you don't what me to feel more foolish than I already feel." Rufus was really sorry for that little accident. He just wanted to forget about that awful day.

"No. Rufus that was amazing. Yes, it was a little too soon to think about sex, not to mention I still have stitches and what happened today with our baby, but trust me when I say it, I am looking forward to the day I will finally be able to enjoy you and your surprises. " She smirked at him.

"I'm sorry Lil, it was kind of selfish of me." Rufus apologized once more.

"It was not selfish Rufus. It was sweet indeed." Lily gave him the sweetest look.

"We both know I made that up because I was hoping to get something out of it. I was such a jerk!" Rufus brought his head back and stared at the ceiling, angrier than ever at himself.

"Rufus. You have no idea how many women would kill to have a jerk like you by their sides." Lily laughed. "I'd probably be the first to kill on the list." Rufus laughed with her. "Now, may I get one of those extremely hot kisses of yours?" She licked her lips.

"I think I owe you at least more than one after that poor figure." Rufus slowly moved closer to her.

"I'll tell you what you really owe me when the day comes." Lily lowered her eyes on his lips and bit hers.

"Lily, you don't have to…"

"I'll tell you what you have to do. Shut up and kiss me Humphrey!" Rufus wrapped one arm around her shoulder and gently pulled her down into his embrace, letting her head rest on his arm. Then her leaned down and kissed her with fury while his hand was moving up and down her side. Lily wrapped one arm around his neck and rested her hand on his chest while Rufus parted their lips with his tongue. Lily instantly felt her legs spread as Rufus' fingers gently moved from her hips to her thigh caressing her bare skin. Rufus smiled against her lips and said "I think we better get some sleep now. We are both tired."

Lily nodded. "It was just a reflex." She said getting back to her original position, after Rufus turned the lights off. She heard him giggling in the dark. "Just for the record, I usually control that reflex when your eyes lay on me, otherwise I would not be able to stand on my own feet." Rufus burst into a loud laughter and reached for her hand, to kiss it.

"I suddenly don't feel like a moron anymore."

"Oh, you think you're so cute, don't you?"

"You make me feel this way." He kissed her hand again. Lily snuggled to his side and rested her back against his chest. Rufus wrapped his arms around her hips and kissed her head.

"Don't you dare leave me for a second tonight. I need to feel your embrace. I really need it." Lily nuzzled the back of her head against his chest and then turned a little to the left to peck a kiss on it.

"I'm not going anywhere." Rufus moved her head aside with his face and kissedher neck.

"I missed this." Lily giggled while Rufus started to tickle her skin with his tongue.

"I missed you." Rufus moaned against her skin.

"I missed you too." Lily closed her eyes, Rufus kissed her neck one more time and then both of them fell asleep. Finally able to rest into each other's arm.


	14. Chapter 14 Welcome home Baby

Rufus and Lily's daily routine was all about spending as much time as they could at the hospital. In the first week after Angelica contracted the infection doctors didn't allow them to walk into the NICU. So the only thing left to do, was stare at their baby through the glass window. They were coming home only at night, Jenny, Eric, Serena and Dan had to go to the hospital to meet them. Cece had left after Lily got out of the hospital, her social life was calling her, which put Rufus in a very good mood for at least three days after her departure. Days were passing slowly, but Angelica's condition seemed to improve. She was gaining weight and started to look puffy, like a regular newborn. Her skin color was going back to a light pink, the blood infection turned her into a sick yellow for many days. It was breaking her parents' heart to look at her like that. When Rufus and Lily were finally allowed to enter the room again it was an huge joy for everybody. "Finally they let us in today." Rufus wrapped his arms around Lily waist from behind later that night at home.

"Yes. Things are starting to fall into place again." Lily caressed Rufus arms gently.

"And Angelica looked a whole lot healthier, don't you think?"

"Yes. She's so perfect in every little detail." Lily grinned at the thought of her baby girl.

"I bet she is, she's the splitting image of her mommy." Rufus kissed the side of her head.

"Kids change a lot in the first six months of life." Lily knew Angelica looked a lot like her, but didn't want to hurt Rufus' feelings anyway.

"It's ok if it looks like you were the only one involved in the making process." Rufus grinned at her and pecked a kiss on her cheek.

"Oh please!" Lily laughed still rubbing his arms around her waist.

"I'm more than fine with just you remembering that particular phase." Rufus licked his lips.

"I'm fine with that too." She turned around and kissed him passionately placing one hand on the side of his face. Rufus tightened the hold around her waist and slowly moved one hand on her lower back down to her butt and lightly squeezed it. Lily instantly started to unbutton his shirt, none of them broke the kiss for a second. Rufus knew where Lily was taking it to and started to walk them backwards to their bed. He tripped against the edge of the bed and fell on his back on it. Lily groaned as their lips parted, but threw herself at Rufus straddling him. As they started to undress each other Lily's mind went back to her surgery and to the big scar it had left on her. She immediately jumped off of him and buttoned her blouse again. "Is something wrong?" Rufus asked trying to catch his breath.

"Uhm…..no. I mean yes. Not….not with you" Lily rambled.

"If you don't feel comfortable with it we can wait, you know?" Rufus got up on his elbows.

"I would love that." Lily grinned in relief.

"Ok, don't be so happy about it though." Rufus sounded hurt.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean I would love not doing It with you. I was talking in general." Lily tried to explained while she lent him a hand to get up from the bed.

"I think I can get your point." Rufus kissed her cheek once he was back on his feet.

"Thanks." She hugged him, keeping him close to her body.

"Ok, I'll go take a shower now. A very cold one." Rufus pulled away and pecked a kiss on her cheek again.

"Ok." Lily nodded feeling a little embarrassed.

Rufus left the room and Lily turned around looking at herself in the full length mirror. She unbuttoned her blouse and let it fall to the ground, then took her jeans off and looked at the long scar covering the lower zone of her tummy. She followed the line of it with her fingertips and sighed. Tears filled her eyes. She felt defaced. She looked at her profile in the mirror turning to one side and saw her tummy was still swollen after almost 3 weeks from the day she gave birth. She was not used to looking at herself like that, she was used to seeing her skinny figure in the mirror, her flat stomach. Lily felt guilty for being unable to show her body to Rufus, but how could she when she was the first one refusing to take a look at it? Her fear to see a look of revulsion on Rufus' face was too strong to let her think straight. A woman can cope with watching her body change, but for a man it's a course that takes a little longer. It was taking long for her, who knew how long it would have taken her husband. Lily wiped her eyes sighing and put a robe on. She knew her body would have changed with the pregnancy, but she didn't expect it to change that much or maybe she just had a baby a long time ago, so she didn't remember the feeling of looking into the mirror and not recognizing her self. It had been different with William, since he was a doctor, he prepared her for everything she was going to face, she knew he wouldn't have been bothered by a scar on her body. But Rufus was another kind of man, she always looked perfect in his eyes and her only worry was to disappoint him somehow. Those stupid thoughts didn't leave her mind that night for a single moment, even when her husband's arms were wrapped around her, even when his warm breath was softly hitting the skin around her neck, even when he interlaced his fingers with hers while he was completely asleep. Rufus was able to show his affection to Lily in every single movement of his body, whether it was night or day. Lily could feel it, she knew he was not going to be that disgusted by her scar, but she couldn't help it…she just couldn't help herself fighting that fear. She slowly fell asleep then, cuddling herself a little bit more into her husband's strong embrace. Smelling the scent of his body helped her to finally fall asleep as a lullaby would help a baby.

"Hey, I was thinking…why don't you move the crib from Angelica's room to our room?" Lily asked Rufus the morning after, while she was brushing her hair in the bathroom.

"Why did you have this idea?" Rufus words came out as a mumble since he was brushing his teeth.

"Because once she comes home I want her to sleep in the same room I sleep in. Just in case anything happens during the night. I want her to be as close as possible to me." Lily started to pull her hair up to create a bun.

"Ok." Rufus rinsed his mouth and grabbed a towel. "When the discharge her it will be the first thing I will do." He said rubbing his face with it.

"Actually I was hoping you could do it today." Lily smiled at him in the mirror.

"Lily." Rufus snapped.

"What?" Lily smirked at him with a fake surprise look on her face.

"The doctors said they don't know yet when Angelica will be out of there. I suggest we wait a little bit before we set our hopes too high." Rufus said coming out from the bathroom.

"You're talking like Angelica will never come home from the hospital." Lily called after him, a little bit hurt.

"Don't be silly! I'm dying to bring her home with us just like you are. I promise I will move the crib into our bedroom the instant we get to bring her home." Rufus went back into the bathroom with a shirt on and started to button it up in front of the mirror.

"Is it too much to ask to do it now? It's not like you have anything to do." Lily let words come out of her mouth without paying attention to what she was about to say.

"You know what? I'll move that damn crib right now just for the pleasure to stop listening to you nag." Rufus was very hurt by his wife's words and walked out of the bathroom in that very instant.

"Rufus!" Lily walked after him. She knew what she said must have hurt him.

"What now?" Rufus yelled turning around.

"What you said was not very nice." Lily wanted to put on her pout face on, but Rufus' voice tone made her change her mind, so now what she said sounded like an admonishment.

"I could say the same to you." Rufus calmed down a little bit.

"Ok, let's say we both apologize and we're good?" Lily took a few steps closer to him giving him a big smile, but Rufus turned his back on her and moved out of the room saying "I'll go get the crib."

"Oh come on!" Lily groaned in annoyance. Rufus really didn't know when to let the little things go. He came back into the bedroom a couple of minutes later pushing the white crib, which thankfully had truckles.

"Put it there, right next to my side of the bed." Lily said pointing the spot where she wanted the crib to be placed from her vanity.

"How about if I moved into Angelica's room and she slept on my side of the bed, huh? You're acting a little paranoid. I won't put it on your side of the bed, there's no space furthermore." Rufus' tone was half sarcastic and half insensitive.

"There's plenty of space. I just want to have Angelica on my side, any more complaints?" Lily stated in annoyance while putting some lipstick on.

"No ma'am." Rufus sighed irritated.

"Oh stop it!" Lily got up. " Just place it there. I'm going to change before we go to the hospital." She moved to the other side of the room and before Rufus knew it, she kissed him taking his face into her hands.

"You are a pain in the ass." Rufus moaned against her lips.

"I love you too." Lily grinned pulling away, before pulling his face back to hers deepening the kiss. Rufus wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to make him forget the little quarrel they just had.

Angelica was getting better and better with every passing day. In less than two weeks the doctor decided it was time for her to be sent home. Rufus and Lily cried tears of joy when they told them it was time for their baby to go home, where she belonged. Lily started to breastfeed her a couple of days before she was discharged, which made everything even more magical. Angelica immediately got used to that new way of being fed and it seemed like she was enjoying her mother's milk a thousand times more than the formula she had up until then. The doctors had been great with Rufus and Lily, very patient and sweet even in the moments when their mood was horrible because of what they were going through. One nurse looked particularly sad for them to leave the hospital. "I'm going to miss this little girl very much. She is going to break a lot of hearts when she becomes old enough to date. I hope you won't be too sad about it." The nurse smirked seductively at Rufus on the last day of Angelica's permanence into the hospital.

"I will cheer my husband up properly. Don't you worry." Lily snapped harshly.

"Oh well….I have no doubts about it." The nurse replied impolitely.

"I will lock my daughter in her room until she will turn 40 to say the least." Rufus and the nurse laughed at his joke.

"You forget she is my daughter too. She will always find a way out of there. And boys are going to fall at her feet, just like you did at mine." Lily gave the nurse a look and then kissed her husband. Rufus was a little surprised by Lily's attitude but really enjoyed her being so jealous. A couple of minutes later they said their goodbyes thanking all the NICU staff for their patience and their kindness with Angelica. Lily could not believe she was finally holding her baby in her arms and taking her home. Once they got into their car she handed a sleepy Angelica to Rufus and rested her head on his shoulder. Their family was going to be reunited at last. "She is so beautiful when she sleeps." Rufus whispered to Lily to prevent Angelica from waking up.

"She is beautiful no matter what she does." Lily gently caressed her little hands with teary eyes.

"Can you believe we are taking her home? If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up. Ever." Rufus smiled and kissed Angelica's hand.

"It's not a dream. It's not a dream." Lily repeated trying to keep her tears in.

"I love you." Rufus kissed her head.

"Speaking of love..." Lily lifted her face up and looked at Rufus.

"Here we go." Rufus sighed trying not to laugh.

"It seemed like the nurse fell hard for you." Her eyes narrowed at him.

"You think?" Rufus smirked proudly.

"She was basically undressing you with her eyes." Lily lightly hit his shoulder.

"I didn't notice that. I had eyes only for Angelica in there and it's going to be so for a long time." Rufus leaned down and kissed Angelica forehead.

"Thank you. Much appreciated." Lily pouted.

"I love when you show your jealous side." Rufus kissed her cheek.

"She was trying to seduce my husband in front of me, what was I supposed to do? Let the two of you flirt?" Lily's voice was raised a little now.

"I was not flirting with her." Rufus stated amused.

"You didn't seem to bothered by her trying to hit on you." Lily rolled her eyes and looked out of the window.

"Well…A man has a certain thing called pride."

"And women too. Especially the married ones." Rufus laughed. "What's so funny?" She hit his shoulder again, this time a little bit harder.

"You?" Rufus questioned sarcastically.

"You're such a dork." Lily sighed in annoyance.

"I was very flattered that you stood up for yourself." He looked at her. "And me I suppose." He laughed again.

"She should thank God that I am way too happy today to let anyone ruin my day." Lily smiled and caressed her daughter head.

"Otherwise?" Rufus was curious to hear the answer.

"Otherwise she would be crying right now. In pain." Lily leaned down and pecked a kiss on Angelica's forehead.

"Violent Lily? I like that!" He took her face with his free hand and moved her closer to let their lips meet.

"Dream on Humphrey, dream on." Lily grinned against his lips.

The drive home couldn't be longer to Rufus and Lily since their eagerness to get there was so strong. The driver helped them out with all the baby stuff they were carrying and Vanya brought everything into the building while Lily and Rufus with Angelica still in his arms, headed to the elevator. Rufus loved the Upper East Side perks in those particular moments. As the elevator doors opened they walked in and heard a choir of "SURPRISE!". They were all there: Serena, Dan, Eric, Jenny, Chuck, Blair, Eleanor and Cyrus, all welcoming Angelica home. Pink balloons and decorations were all over the living room and a huge "Welcome home Angel" was hanging on the wall. They all clapped their hands as they noticed Angelica laying in Rufus' arms, but all the noise made the baby cry. "Awww." Lily pouted taking Angelica from Rufus' arms. "They made this up for you sweetie, there's no need to cry." She said rocking her and patting her a little on her back.

"She just entered the room and already cries." Eric laughed. "I guess she just realised what kind of family she happened to have."

"Stop making fun of my daughter and my family." Rufus pointed him and then went for a hug. "When did you make all of this? We left a couple of hours ago." Rufus asked while hugging Jenny first and Dan then.

"It had to be a surprise." Serena giggled before giving him a hug.

"Thank you kids. Thanks to all of you." Rufus was very touched by the little surprise they made for Angelica.

"Don't even mention it. We are very happy your whole family is finally home." Eleanor smiled at him after hugging him tightly. Angelica stopped crying so everybody turned to her and Lily.

"This was so sweet of you, thanks everybody" Lily smiled happily still rocking her baby.

"Show us the baby!" Eleanor cried in excitement walking towards Lily. They all gathered around her.

"She's so cute Lily. Congratulations again my dear." Eleanor gave Lily a big smile.

"Thank you." Lily grinned back.

"She does look like a little angel. Nice choice." Cyrus lightly caressed Angelica's head.

"Mom please, can I hold her?" Serena asked rubbing her hands in anticipation.

"Of course. Be careful with the head." Lily warned her after placing Angelica into Serena's arms.

"She is so light!" Serena exclaimed in surprise staring at her little sister.

"She'll get bigger very soon." Lily smiled caressing her baby's cheek.

"She is even cuter now that we're face to face." Eric grinned stroking her little hand.

"She's a masterpiece dad." Dan looked at her with a smiley face.

"I know, we worked hard." Rufus kidded passing his arm around Lily's shoulder.

"I think I've never been more amazed in my whole life. I can't believe she's my sister." Jenny wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Aw, you're so sweet!" Lily said with teary eyes herself. Then she and Rufus pulled her into their embrace and hugged her close.

"Lily congratulations. I am a very proud step brother." Chuck smiled at Lily and then hugged her.

"Thank you Charles."

"My turn! My turn! My turn!" Jenny giggled taking the baby from Serena.

"Be careful." Serena said before leaving Angelica in her arms.

"I can handle it." Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Her, Jenny, h-e-r." Eric corrected his step sister. Making everybody in the room laugh hard.

"Oh, leave me alone you Van der Woodsens!" Jenny cried frustrated. Rufus and Lily laughed at the scene. They were finally there, all of them, with their loved ones. Everyone was giggling around Angelica. That baby girl surely brought their family closer and made all of them even happier. Lily couldn't help but smile all day long. Angelica was like a toy to the kids, they basically didn't leave her for a minute. Lily was allowed to take her only to breastfeed her and to change her diaper, all of them refused to do it when Rufus asked them. Spending the whole day at home, with the family reunited gave both Rufus and Lily a sense of peace they never experienced before. Now that Angelica was around, even Jenny and Serena started to act more friendly to each other. Angelica made them all see how much capable of love they were. Laughter and giggles were filling the room. An unbreakable bond was just forged, they never felt more like one united family until then. That little angel already made her first miracle making all of her siblings feel like a part of a big happy family, after all they had been through, now that she was there bringing them together. Rufus and Lily went to bed early, they were now accustomed to Angelica's needs and times. Lily was breastfeeding her before putting her to sleep when Rufus entered their bedroom, crushing himself on the bed. "I'm exhausted." He sighed.

"Get yourself ready for bed, I think I'm almost done here." Lily smiled nonetheless.

"I love watching you breastfeeding Angelica." Rufus sat up next to Lily.

"You do?" Lily asked curiously.

"Yep. I think this little girl and I love doing the same things." Rufus laughed.

"I knew you would have made some stupid joke about it." Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I was just kidding. I think It's sweet and cute to watch. That's all." Rufus leaned down and kissed Angelica's hand.

"For now it's only very painful to me." The breastfeeding process needed some getting used to for Lily.

"The doctor said the pain will go away in a couple of weeks." Rufus brushed some hair out of her face gently.

"I know, It doesn't really bother me. Besides I would kill myself for this little one." Lily had the look of a woman in love with her own baby, she really was completely lost in Angelica's eyes.

"I know exactly what you mean." Rufus smiled at her.

"Today was the perfect day, wasn't it?" Lily turned his face around breaking the eye contact with her baby and grinned at her husband.

"Yes it was." Rufus softly moved his face forward and kissed her forehead.

"Ok, I think we're done here baby. Now you go to daddy." Lily stated after a couple of minutes lifting Angelica up and placing her into Rufus' arms.

"I guess my part of the job is making her burp, right?" Rufus said amused.

"You are so perspicacious!" Lily said sarcastically buttoning her top.

"When do you have to feed her again?"

"In three hours. The alarm will ring up if the baby won't wake me up all by herself." Lily got up from the bed.

"So we have three hours for ourselves." Rufus smirked.

"You are thinking about that while you're holding my baby in your arms? You suck Humphrey!" Lily could not believe Rufus was able to think about sex even with Angelica in the same room.

"I was just doing some calculations." Rufus laughed.

"Yes, whatever." Lily laughed along with him.

"Oh, that's my girl!" Rufus rubbed Angelica's back after she loudly showed her digesting process was over. "I guess we are ready to go to bed finally, aren't we?" Rufus pecked multiple kisses oh her cheek.

"What do you say if we let her sleep with us, in our bed? Just for a little while." Lily asked before Rufus could put Angelica down in her crib.

"I would love that." Rufus gladly accepted Lily's proposal.

"Thanks. I'll be back in a bit." Lily quickly kissed Rufus on the lips and then headed to the bathroom. Her 'bit' lasted an half hour and when she came back into the room she gasped at the sight. Rufus and Angelica feel asleep on their bed. It was the sweetest thing she had ever seen. Angelica was laid on Rufus' chest on her stomach and her little right arm was wrapped around his neck. Rufus was such a caring father, he had placed two pillows on each side on his body just in case the baby rolled over him and had his hand rested on her back to keep her firm. Lily smiled at them and hopped on the bed. She removed the two pillows on her side and cuddled next to Rufus, as he felt Lily's body against his, Rufus moved his arm up and wrapped it around Lily's waist bringing her closer to him. Lily smiled up at him and kissed his cheek before laying her head on his shoulder. "I love you." She mumbled before falling asleep into his arms. "I love you too." Rufus kissed the top of her head. In that moment Lily realised she had just achieved everything she aimed for in her life. She had the man of her dreams right next to her and the most beautiful baby in the world from him. If perfection existed, nothing could feel closer to it to her. The light breathing of Angelica made the room quieter and more peaceful, like everything around them stopped to listen to that beautiful sound. Lily smiled one more time and then let herself fall asleep, conscious that no dream would have been better than the one she was living in her everyday life.


	15. Chapter 15 Always be my baby

I want to thank fro the bottom of my heart all the people who left such amazing reviews and favorited my story. This was my first one and English is not my first language, so I was pretty scared to let the world read it, but all of you made me feel more comfortable with every new chapter. I hope you will enjoy this final chapter at least as much as I did writing it. A special thanks goes to Rashmika for being so so helpful and to Magda, who is just my n.1 fan. Thanks to all of you, again.

Angelica was finally home, getting bigger than anybody could expect. Lily's milk was helping her grow stronger and she was becoming more beautiful everyday. All the kids were always at the penthouse so they could spend as much time with their little sister as possible, none of them cared about spending the summer in the City if that meant having plenty of time to dedicate to Angelica. As much as things were going great in their family after all the drama they had to go through in the last months, things between Rufus and Lily were starting to get very tense. A month almost passed from the day they brought Angelica home and since then Lily never let the baby sleep in her crib once. That "little while" she asked Rufus for, turned out to be a very long while. Besides the loss of intimacy in their own bed, Lily was just avoiding any kind of contact with her husband. The fear of letting him see her body was well-built into her head. Rufus on the other hand was getting very annoyed by all the buildup Lily was creating for them. Everytime he tried to approach her somehow, she was hesitant and reluctant. Lily didn't even needed to express with words her refusal, her body language was doing the work on her behalf. Rufus was noticeably getting sick and tired of the whole situation and that made him very intolerant towards Lily and to everything she did or said. Staying around them, fighting all the time, was difficult for the kids too. With Rufus heading out anytime he could and Lily committing all her time to Angelica, there were few chances to spend time all together and when that rarely happened they fought. Rufus' nervousness was palpable, Lily's annoyance by his behavior was not less evident. The most awkward moments were the ones when they all had to stay around each other.

"Would you please refill my glass?" Lily asked Rufus nodding towards her empty glass during what seemed to be a more quieter than usual dinner.

"Did you forget how to use hands?" Rufus snapped before taking a sip of his wine.

"Jesus! I was just hoping for a nice gesture from you." Lily exclaimed upset.

"Yeah." Rufus nodded swallowing the piece of beef he just put into his mouth.

"You're closer to the water pitcher." Lily pointed to his side of the table.

Rufus moved the pitcher on her side and stated harshly "Now you're closer to it. Help yourself."

Lily gave him a look and then put some water into her glass. They kids stared at the scene in silence. "So, I was wondering why didn't you plan any vacation for the summer?" Lily tried to break the tension accosting to Eric and Jenny. "You just graduated. You should go somewhere and celebrate before college starts."

"We wanted to enjoy our little sister for a little bit now that she is finally home." Eric gently smiled at her and rubbed her arm to show her some support in that scratchy moment.

"There will be plenty of time for that. I say go have some fun." Lily grinned at them.

"I don't know Lily. Summer is almost over and we don't feel like traveling abroad." Jenny shook her head in disagreement.

"You can always stay in the States. Where do you want to go? You just have to say it and I will make sure you have the perfect vacation." Lily sounded very persuasive.

"Are you deaf or something? They said they don't want to go anywhere. Leave them alone." Rufus hit the table whilst putting down his napkin.

"Excuse me?" Lily was now shocked by his reaction, totally out of the blue.

"You heard me." He articulated every word firmly.

"Is there a problem if I want our kids to enjoy their youth a little whilst they still can?" Lily was trying to control herself, in order to avoid another scene in front of their kids.

"You could give classes about how to enjoy youth to teenagers, that's for sure." Rufus had now reached a no turning back point.

"That's it." Lily got up from the table and tossed her napkin to the floor. "I've had enough of you and of your childish behavior." She yelled at him, unable to contain herself anymore. "Not to mention the kind words you have for me everytime you open your mouth lately." She lowered her voice tone.

"I agree with you. I've had enough too." Rufus got up as well and looked right into her eyes. They heard Angelica cry through the baby monitor placed on the counter.

"I'll go get her." Lily broke eye contact with her husband and started to walk towards the stairs.

"That's the only thing you do recently." Rufus mumbled.

"Would you please shut the hell up Rufus?" Lily yelled at him turning around.

"I'm out of here." Rufus pushed in the chair hard against the table and a glass fell on the ground because of the impact.

"Thank you God! You just made my day!" Lily cried bringing her eyes up to the ceiling.

"I'll stay at the loft tonight." Rufus walked away without giving her a look.

"Yes, go stay to the loft. Who cares about your wife and your baby!" Lily yelled again after him.

"What the hell do you want me to do Lily? You tell me!" Rufus was still in the apartment waiting for the elevator to come to their floor. He walked towards Lily then and yelled at her as well.

"Go away. I already know I'm gonna say something I will regret otherwise." Lily said to him, her voice coming out as whisper.

"The baby is still crying. Are you going upstairs or should I?" Rufus asked pointing to the baby monitor, trying to prevent himself from yelling right to her face again.

"I'm going." Lily held her hands up and made her way up the stairs.

"Fine." Rufus called after her before starting to walk in circles around the room to calm himself a little.

"What the fuck was that?" Jenny asked after making sure Lily couldn't hear them.

"Jenny! Language please!" Rufus raised his hand up and pointed at his daughter in admonishment.

"She used the right word Rufus, I'm sorry. Are you and mom have some kind of problems?" Eric was worried about his parents continuous fights.

"Not at all." Rufus lied to their faces.

"Hello? We were here during your nice conversation." Jenny rolled her eyes.

"I am a little neurotic. That's it. I'll talk to her later." Rufus cut it off.

"Dad! Neurotic? You were the king of the asses." Jenny cried with no care for her father's feelings.

"Jenny clean your mouth up when you talk to me, I don't care that you're 18 now. Show some respect." Rufus couldn't bear that kind of talk from his daughter anymore.

"You should show some respect to you wife I'd say." Jenny shot back.

"This is none of your business."

"What is wrong with you?" Jenny bawled in clear annoyance.

"Do I have to start a fight with my daughter too? I'm not in the mood." Rufus yelled at her.

"We are not even close to fighting compared to the scene we just witnessed between you and Lily." Jenny got up from the table.

"Again, it's between me and her." Rufus repeated resolutely.

"You hurt her." Jenny looked into her father's eyes begging him to go back to the man she knew with her eyes.

"She hurt me." Rufus looked down disappointed at himself, he knew he hurt her with his words.

"Oh please! She only asked you to fill her glass with water!" Jenny groaned.

"You know what? I'll go get some fresh air." Rufus held his hands up, giving up on their conversation.

"And don't come back until you decide to apologize to her." Jenny threatened him.

"Whatever!" He said walking into the elevator.

"I don't know what's going on around here but I better call Dan and Serena, we need help." Eric got up from the table and took his phone out of his jeans pocket.

"Definitely." Jenny nodded still confused by how Lily and Rufus were acting around each other.

That night Rufus didn't come back home. Lily had to take care of Angelica all by herself and that made her miss Rufus even more. Angelica used to calm down and stop crying at her father's touch, it seemed like he had magical powers when it came to Angelica. That little girl was totally in love with him. Lily felt responsible for the way Rufus was acting lately, she knew it was her fault that there was all that damned tension between the two of them. She looked down at Rufus' side of the bed while breastfeeding Angelica in the middle of the night and felt the need to send him a text, but her ego was hurt. The words Rufus said, the yelling, the way he threw the chair against the table were running through Lily's mind at the speed of light. She closed her eyes and a light tear fell on her cheek. She tried to get herself back together for Angelica and focused on her only, but it was like hitting a wall with her face every time Angelica laid her eyes on her. They were identical to Rufus' eyes and it was even more painful to act like nothing happened at that point. Lily spent the entire night awake, Angelica looked nervous and didn't let her sleep for more than an hour. It was like she felt her mother was not okay and most of all she felt her father was not around for the first time since she got home. Rufus' night didn't go well either. He spent it composing some music at the loft, unable to catch some sleep. The thought of Lily and Angelica alone at night was killing him, but he wanted Lily to understand they could not leave their relationship like that for long. The morning after Serena made a stop by her mother's bedroom before heading out for a brunch with Blair. Jenny and Eric informed her about what happened the night before and made her promise she would take care of it personally. "Hey!" Serena smiled at Lily who was standing up next to Angelica's crib looking down at her.

"Hi, sweetheart" Lily turned around and smiled as well.

"How is my little sister today?" Serena walked through the room and took her sister out of the crib.

"More gorgeous than yesterday." Lily grinned at her daughters.

"Hey cutie! I missed you so much! These little cheeks are to die for!" Serena pecked an uncountable number of kisses all over Angelica's face.

Lily slightly laughed at the irritated expression her baby girl suddenly put on. "Don't you dare think about having one of your own in the near future." Lily warned Serena.

"Mom please! I'm not even 22 years old." Serena laughed at the thought of having a having a baby of her own.

"And at your age I already had two children If we include Scott."

"Jeez, you watched the father of the bride 2, too many times." Serena made fun of that paranoid version of her mother. "Anyway I'm enjoying being a big sister and that is pretty gratifying." She kissed Angelica one more time.

"Good to know." Lily sighed a little relieved.

"So…I heard about your fight with Rufus last night at dinner." Serena glanced at her.

"Gossip Girl?"

"Close, Eric." Both Serena and Lily laughed.

"I should have known."

"Mom? What's going on?"

"I don't know….I mean I might have a clue, but I don't want to say it." Lily shook her head and started to walk around the room.

"Eric and Jenny are worried. And Dan and I are too. Please, tell me if something is wrong." Serena implored her.

"I don't really feel like talking right now."

"Mom." Serena could not let it go so easily, Jenny and Eric would have killed her otherwise.

"Serena." Lily sighed.

"Is anything wrong with Angelica? Is she sick again or something?" That was the kids' main concern.

"No, no! What made you think that?" Lily was taken aback by her daughter's question.

"Then why are the two of you at each other's throat all the time lately?" Serena sat down on the bed and placed Angelica on her lap.

"I never talked about that stuff with you, I'm not going to start today." Lily blushed a little.

"That stuff? What stuff?" Serena thought about it for a moment and then exclaimed "Oh Gosh! I am basically sitting on the problem!" She looked down at the king sized bed.

"Serena." Lily's cheeks went on fire.

"What is it? You didn't go back to your routine? I mean you have a baby now. He should understand you have to focus on her more than….on him. Having sex as often as before is not that easy I guess." Serena rambled, thinking she got to the heart of the matter.

"Well…." Lily paused looking away.

"What?" Serena asked eager to figure the problem out. "Talk to me mom. I promise I won't spill the beans with anybody."

Lily sighed. "It's not that we don't do it…so often."

"Then what's the matter? Oh, I see!" She cried as she just discovered a new planet in the Solar System. "You are having problems enjoying him and he noticed? It happened hundreds of times to me. You had so many husbands you should be pretty good at the faking part. Some moans, some screams, some Oh my God and it's done." Serena smirked.

"Serena!" Lily couldn't believe what kind of conversation she was having with her eldest daughter. "First of all I'm a master at that and second of all I never had to fake with Rufus. Not once."

"Lucky you! He should give his son that particular talk again then." They both burst into laughter. "What is the problem then? I don't get it mom."

"We haven't….we did….well….you know?" Lily stammered in embarrassment.

"No, I don't." Serena shook her head.

"Since I came back home we….haven't…." Lily was just unable to put together a sentence when it came to talk about her sexlife with someone other than her own husband.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Serena's eyes widened in shock.

"I am so not. And it's all my fault." Lily buried her face in her hands.

"Mom, Angelica is almost 2 months old and you stopped having sex with Rufus while you were still pregnant with her. I was not that good at math in high school, but that means you haven't had sex in…."

"8months and 26 days." Lily filled in the blank.

"WOW!" Serena was even more stunned now.

"I know!" Lily was very embarrassed.

"That long?" Serena asked again still incredulous. Lily nodded in response. "I thought nobody could survive a sexless life for so long!"

"You are not helping." Lily snapped.

"And he didn't cheat on you?" Serena dared to ask, already regretting it.

"Serena! Why are you putting that thought into my mind now? I hope He didn't."Lily thought about it for a second. "No, I'm sure he didn't." She shook her head firmly.

"Well, if he didn't that dude gotta love you more than he shows." Serena laughed playing a little with her sister.

"Why did I start this conversation with you?" Lily crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ok, ok. You're right. I apologize. Why did you say it's your fault?"

"Because everytime I try to undress in front of him, I im so embarrassed and basically run away." Lily explained blushing a little again.

"What? Why? How did you make her?" Serena pointed her finger to Angelica. "Did you write a letter to Santa?"

"Serena stop making fun of me and Rufus! This is a tragedy!" Lily was very annoyed by Serena's jokes.

"Ok, let's go back to the real problem. Why do you feel uncomfortable undressing yourself in front of him?" Serena asked letting her sister play with her necklace.

"Because of this." Lily showed her the scar on her lower stomach.

"Your c-section mark?"

"Yes. I feel so ugly with this big scar on my stomach. I don't feel comfortable with showing it to Rufus. It could disgust him, I am disgusted myself at looking down at it." Lily immediately covered it again.

"Mom! Please! It's not cute, obviously. But Rufus would never notice it after all that time you spent apart under the covers." Serena couldn't help but laugh again.

"You are a woman, of course it doesn't bother you. But he is not used to seeing me like this." Lily looked at herself in the full length mirror and sighed discontentedly.

"But you already had a c-section with Eric. Didn't he see that scar?"

"I had it removed with laser years ago! Please!" Lily laughed, surprised her daughter didn't think about that before asking.

"So remove this one too." Serena said readily.

"It's too soon Serena, at least a couple of years need to pass."

"A couple of years? I think Chuck will have to give Rufus his black book if you don't get yourself back on the bike soon." Serena tried to warn her in the midst of her joke.

"Don't make jokes Serena! This is serious!" Lily was getting tired of this conversation.

"No I'll tell you what it is: this is ridiculous! You look beautiful no matter what. And Rufus loves you more than his own life. Just give it a try and you'll see you won't regret it." Serena stoop up rocking Angelica in her arms, the baby was getting a little nervous.

"I don't know…." Lily sighed, her minds full of doubts.

"Maybe you're enjoying this tragedy then."

"Are you kidding me? I'm going nuts." Lily cried bringing on hand on her hip and the other to her forehead.

"Then do something about it." Serena encouraged her.

"So, you suggest I show it to him?"

"It's not that you can put a diving suit on to have sex with your husband." Serena rolled her eyes.

"That would be uncomfortable." They both laughed.

"Think about it. I gotta go now." She placed Angelica back into her mother's arms. "Bye bye softy cheeks. I'll see you later." She gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you Serena." Lily leaned forward and kissed her.

"Not a problem. Love you." Serena kissed her cheek too patting her on the arm.

"I love you too." Lily smiled cradling her daughter a little while Serena left the room.

In the meantime at the loft Dan was doing his part of the job Eric and Jenny assigned him, which was trying to figure out what was happening with Rufus. "So, wanna talk about why you spent the night at the loft?" Dan asked sipping a cup of coffee.

"I can't stand being around Lily these days." Rufus shrugged his shoulders and set on the couch.

"May I ask why?"

"I just can't." Rufus replied coldly.

"Dad you two should be the happiest people on the planet. Why are you fighting so often? I truly don't understand." Dan sat down next to his father.

"Because we don't have sex and it has been awhile since the last time we had. I don't even remember the last time we…"

"Oh God! I feel sorry for asking now." Dan cut him off in pure embarrassment.

"I don't want to talk about it indeed…." Rufus gave him a look.

"Without giving me any detail, would you tell me what is wrong….with you?" Dan asked hesitantly.

"With me? Absolutely nothing. Ask her!" Rufus screamed.

"I'd rather not. So Lily is the one having a problem?" Dan asked even more hesitantly now.

"It takes two people to do such things, if I am not the one backing out who do you think is?"

"Little nervous, huh?"

"It's been a looooong time Dan." Rufus took a pillow and buried his face in it, frustrated.

"Ok, so since Lily got back from the hospital you are not doing it so much. Give her some time." Dan got up, supposing that conversation was finally over.

"I have to correct you there. Since Lily got back from the hospital we've never done it." Rufus took the pillow away from his face.

"Can I say I am very proud to be your son right now?" Dan patted his father's shoulder. He really admired him now.

"Thanks for your support son." Rufus smiled nonetheless.

"But did you try to create the right atmosphere and everything?" Dan sat back down on the couch, his father was about to need therapy if things didn't go back to normal with Lily soon.

"Angelica has been sleeping in our bed since the day we brought her home. How was I supposed to create the atmosphere?" Rufus was getting irritated just thinking back to all the nights he tried to do something, but his daughter was right in the middle of the bed.

"Ok, what about a different location then?" Dan could not believe he was giving his father instructions and advice about his sex life.

"I tried everything. Everytime I start to…you know, she basically pushes me back or makes some excuse up." Rufus placed his hands on his hips and sighed.

"Dad…I don't know what to say."Dan shrugged his shoulders. "Give her some time….maybe she needs to recover from the surgery or she doesn't feel ready to go back to it yet."

"Angelica will be 2 months old in 9 days Dan." Rufus tried to make a point there.

"I would say Keep calm and carry on, but I think it would make you feel worse." Dan stated feebly.

"I am fed up. I can't take this anymore." Rufus trailed his fingers through his hair.

"Why don't you talk about it with her? I'm sure she will understand. She was a groupie once upon a time for God's sake!" Dan tried not to laugh at the image of a groupie Lily that had just came up in his mind.

"She was my groupie first of all and second of all I don't think talking about it would make me or her feel any better." Rufus answered harshly.

"Well, you need to do something before you kill someone." Dan got up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen.

"I know." Rufus sighed. In that moment his phone beeped. Rufus took it out of his pocket and read the text he just got. "_We miss you. Madly. Come back home, please. Lily and Angelica_" He smiled and shook his head in disbelief.

"Who is it?" Dan asked curiously.

"My girls." He smiled. "I have to go. Thanks for the talk son." Rufus hugged his son.

"Anytime." He hugged him back.

Rufus tried to get home as fast as he could, to the most special girls in his world. "Lily?" He called entering their apartment. Nobody answered him back, but he figured she didn't even hear him, Angelica was crying out loud. He ran upstairs and walked into their room. Lily turned around whilst rocking their baby girl back and forth, but the baby didn't seem to have any intention of calming down. "Got the text?" Lily smiled big at him. Rufus nodded and took Angelica from her arms into his. "She has been crying for like an hour." Lily looked tired and discouraged.

"We need a little music therapy, don't we?" Rufus tickled her stomach with his fingertips. "Take her for a second, I'll grab the one." He kissed Angelica on her forehead.

"Ok." Lily smiled. Rufus handed Angelica back to his wife and rushed downstairs to get his guitar which now was now in Eric's room. When he came back he found Lily laid on the bed with Angelica right by her side, still crying. "It breaks my heart when she cries like that." Lily pouted caressing her cheek. Rufus nodded in agreement and climbed into their bed with his guitar. As he started playing Rosewood Angelica stopped crying. She turned her little cutie face to the left and looked at her dad. Lily's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "She stopped!" She cried in excitement. Rufus smiled at her and kept on singing. By the time the song was over, Angelica had already fallen asleep. Rufus put his guitar down on the floor and took the baby in his arms, taking her to her crib. Lily slowly got up from bed and walked towards him. They locked eyes for less than a second and then found themselves in each other's arms. Lily wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulder and rested her chin on it. Rufus held her close to him and gently rubbed her back. "I think I owe you an apology for yesterday."

"I think I owe you an apology for the last 2 months." Lily whispered in his ear. Rufus pulled away and looked at her with wondering eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He laughed knowing his acting skills were pretty awful.

"I'm sorry Rufus. I spent the last two months rejecting you, but it was not was not you who I was rejecting, but myself instead." Lily felt horrible all of a sudden.

"What do you mean?" Lily sighed and lifted her top a little bit up and pointed the scar she had on her lower stomach.

"It still hurts?" Rufus asked concerned.

"No. I want you to look at it."

"I am looking at it. Should I notice something?"

"Touch it." Lily implored him. Rufus looked at Lily a little surprised by her request , but did as told. His fingertips lightly brushed her skin, giving Lily shivers.

"Will you look at me the same way you used to look at me before I gave birth, now?" Lily placed her index under his chin and lifted his face up, to look into his eyes.

"What?" Rufus could not believe to his ears.

"I feel ugly and so unsexy with this huge mark on me. I didn't want to show it to you, because I was worried you would feel disgusted to have sex with me now that my body looks different." Lily finally opened her heart to her husband.

"Is this some weird joke?" Rufus was shocked.

"No, Rufus. I'm serious." Lily moved her hand up and down his chest.

"So we didn't have sex for two months because of this?" Rufus didn't know if it was time for him to laugh or to cry.

"Yes." Lily nodded blushing.

"Oh Lil!" Rufus sighed pulling her into his arms again. "I was starting to think you had a problem with me. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on. Even when you get old and have gray hair and wrinkles all over your face you will be the most beautiful woman to me." Rufus rubbed her back, letting their bodies sashay.

"I'm trying to cope with a scar, why are you talking about getting gray now?" Rufus laughed.

"You should have talked to me about it. I can totally understand you feel a little uncomfortable with it, but I want you to know I am perfectly comfortable with it. It will remind me of the great act of love you did for me, by bringing this little girl into our lives. It means the world to me." Rufus said pulling away to look into her eyes while saying so.

"Is it the truth?" Lily wanted to be sure he really had no problem with her body.

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

"I love you so much! I'm sorry for the hell I put you through lately." Lily wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Don't be sorry." Rufus brushed some hair behind her ear. "I should be sorry for my attitude and the things I said to you. I didn't want to hurt you, I was just…"

"I know honey. Trust me, I know." Lily trailed off and gripped his shoulders again kissing his neck.

"I don't like this feeling. Missing you when you are always beside me. It's torture." Rufus purred into her ear.

"Oh Rufus! I am so sorry! I know how much it means to you." Lily pulled away and kept him at arm's length.

"It's not sex itself that means something to me Lily. It's sex with you." Rufus placed his hand on the side of her face and gently brushed her cheek with his thumb.

"Serena said you have to be pretty much in love with me for not cheating with someone else in the last months." Lily laughed, but she was nervously waiting for an answer from Rufus.

"Is it some cheesy way to make sure I didn't cheat on you?" Rufus didn't stop caressing the soft skin of her face.

"Maybe." Lily smirked at him.

"You know I wouldn't do that to you. After all you've been through, after all we've been through lately. Other women have always been invisible to me when you were around. Sleeping with someone else? That would have been disgusting." Rufus leaned forward and kissed her other cheek.

"Yeah….I know. I was just fishing." Lily smiled placing her arms around Rufus' neck again.

"You didn't need to. With you I am completely satisfied." Rufus started to peck kisses on her neck.

"Not so much lately." Lily joked moving her head aside.

"Let's say I vaguely remember how it feels to be satisfied by you." Rufus grinned against her skin and then kissed her again.

"Vaguely?" Lily took a step back, a little irritated.

"I don't even remember the last time we had sex, I lost count of the days." Rufus held his hands up in defense.

"8months and 26 days to be exact."

"Wow! You remember it from what I hear." Rufus pulled her closer to him, placing his hands on her hips.

"Obviously I do. It was not a fun run for me either Humphrey." Lily smirked at him and then licked his lips in anticipation now that their faces were so close their noses were touching.

"I was hoping so." Rufus removed one hand from her hips and placed it on the back of her head. He pushed it a little bit, but it was not needed since Lily's lips were already crushing against his. Lily disclosed them a little and let her tongue slip into his mouth. Rufus happily welcomed that familiar taste and intertwined his tongue with hers. Their hands were moving so frantically around each other's body, eager to touch every inch, that the two almost lost their balance. Lily pulled away, breathless. "We should move the crib back to Angelica's room. Mommy and Daddy have some catching up to do." Rufus smirked seductively at her. Lily grinned against his lips before kissing him again with fury. "Just not yet, it's a little bit too soon. We'll find the right time and the right place. I promise. Our waiting will soon be over." She said once Rufus pulled away. "You bet it will." Lily smiled as she felt Rufus patting her butt and kissed him again.

The day went by regularly, Rufus and Lily smirked at each other all day long, which made Eric and Jenny realise their plan had worked. Rufus offered to put Angelica to sleep while Lily relaxed a little in the bathtub. Once she was done, Lily walked into their room with only her robe on. "So it looks like we have some alone time finally." Rufus walked towards Lily and took her into his arms.

"Yeah." Lily moaned, already in ecstasy by the recognizable touch of Rufus' lips on her neck. "We just have to be quiet, I don't want to wake the baby up." Lily's words were barely understandable since she was repeatedly moaning while Rufus lips moved from her neck to her chest.

"I don't know if I can do it." Rufus carefully laid her down on their bed.

"Rufus." Lily scolded him.

"But I can try." He said unfastening her robe and pulling it down her shoulders.

"You better." Lily moaned as Rufus straddled her. Her hands immediately reached the waistband of his pants and unbuttoned it. Rufus flicked his tongue against her skin massaging her breast. Lily moaned loudly as his other hand slipped in between her legs, grabbing her clit. That woke Angelica up, who apparently was not a sleepyhead at all. "No way!" Rufus screamed, pissed.

"I told you to be quiet!" Lily pushed him off of her.

"You were the loud one! Not me." Rufus pointed at her.

"Jesus!" Lily groaned in frustration.

"I'll take care of her, you stay here. Don't move." Rufus climbed off of her and walked towards the crib.

"Thanks." Lily sighed, still unbelievably aroused.

Angelica didn't go back to sleep before an hour. Rufus and Lily tried to do anything they could to wear her out, but nothing seemed to work. The baby looked pretty annoyed by her parents' waking her up from her nap and that was the punishment she was inflicting on them. "Done." Rufus whispered putting Angelica down into her crib again. Lily interlaced her hands around his neck and pulled him closer to her, letting them fall on the bed. "You haven't done anything yet Humphrey." She purred into his ear unfastening her robe again. Rufus took his pants off in the blink of an eye and his boxers with them, tossing them all to the floor. He jumped back on the bed and took Lily into his arms, they kissed with passion, before Rufus placed himself on top of her. Lily stroked him, forcing Rufus to cover his mouth with his hand to prevent a loud moan to escape from it. Lily wrapped her legs around his hips, showing Rufus there was no time left for petting. He took her hand away and in the second the top of his erection was making his way into her they heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Rufus groaned in frustration.

"It's Eric." Lily instantly pushed her husband aside and covered them both with a sheet. "Come in." She called covering her naked body as much as she could.

"Mom Jenny is sick, she has been throwing up for like an half hour now." Eric spoke up after opening the door. Thankfully the dark of the room spared Eric the vision of a huge bulb under the sheets at the top of Rufus' hips.

"We're coming." Lily said resolutely.

"Ok." Eric nodded and left the room, closing the door before heading downstairs.

"You have got to be kidding me God!" Rufus looked above.

"Rufus, get up. Put a robe on and go check on Jenny. I'm right behind you." Lily jumped off the bed and walked to her drawer to take some clean underwear to put on under her robe.

Rufus got up and went into the bathroom to calm himself down a little. He couldn't show up in Jenny's room that way. After a couple of minutes Rufus and Lily went downstairs, into Jenny's room. "Hey sweetheart how do you feel?" Lily sat down on the bed next to her stepdaughter and stroked her head.

"Terrible." Jenny coughed.

"I can see it." Lily kissed her forehead. "Rufus go put some sugar in a glass of water, it will help her feel better if she drinks it." Lily turned to Rufus.

"It sounds disgusting Lily!" Jenny pouted.

"The last half hour sounds disgusting to me Jenny." Eric stated doggedly.

"Here you go." Rufus handed the glass of water and sugar Lily ordered him to prepare, to Jenny a couple of minutes later.

"Please dad, don't make me drink this crap." Jenny begged him looking at the fluid in the glass.

"Jenny, no complaining. If Lily says it works, it works." Rufus softly smiled at her, he was still pissed as hell to put a big smile on his face.

"Drink it." Lily encouraged Jenny with a smile. Jenny closed her eyes and drank it all at once.

"Oh my God! That was so awful!" She cried in disgust.

"You'll be fine in less than an hour now. Just get some rest." Lily kissed her cheek and took the glass from her hand.

"How did you get sick?" Rufus asked trying to sound less annoyed.

"I guess it was the massive ice cream she ate before going to bed." Eric laughed.

"Yeah, definitely." Jenny looked like she was about to puke again.

"Well we can't change the past and I think Jenny learned her lesson." Lily caressed her cheek. "Try to catch some sleep." She got up from the bed.

"Dad would you stay with me for a little while?" Jenny reached for his hand with hers.

"Sure." Rufus could not say no to his sick daughter.

"Thank you." Jenny smiled holding his hand tightly.

"Wait for me?" Rufus whispered into Lily's ear before she walked out of the room. Lily nodded and gently pushed her son out of the room "Let's go Eric.".

"Night glutton." Eric looked at his stepsister before going back to his room.

"Good Night." Lily smiled at Jenny and closed the door behind her back.

Once she got back into her bedroom Lily checked on Angelica and then climbed back into bed, waiting for Rufus. She didn't expect the waiting to be so long though. Rufus opened the door of the bedroom and walking on his toes, made his way to their bed. He didn't want to wake Angelica up. He kissed Lily on the lips, eager to wake her up. Lily rubbed her eyes and smiled at him, then she turned to the right to find out what time it was, the timepiece said 07.45. "I waited for you last night." Lily pouted turning back to her husband. " I deduced you fell asleep."

"Yes, and my back hurts. Jenny kicked me all night long." Rufus groaned and leaned down then to kiss her.

"I'm sorry honey." Lily said against his lips.

"No, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you later." Rufus pulled away to look at her.

"Sounds like a threat." Lily smirked at him.

"Because it is." Rufus purred into her ear and took her earlobe into his mouth sucking at it.

"Then why wait? There's still 15minutes before I have to nurture Angelica." Lily placed her hands on his hips and pulled him closer to her.

"Oh really?" Rufus had a surprised tone in his voice.

"Yes." Lily nodded starting to undress Rufus. Angelica started to cry right at that moment. Rufus and Lily looked at each other in disbelief. "I cannot believe this Angelica!" Rufus screamed looking at the crib.

"Is it someone punishing us? What did we do to deserve this?" Lily laid back on the bed.

"I don't know. Could you please go to Angelica before I literally rape you?"Rufus moved aside to let Lily get out of bed.

"Naughty!" She turned her face to him and bit her bottom lip.

"Lily don't. Please go check on the baby." Rufus crashed his face into a pillow.

"She's just hungry." Lily justified Angelica.

"And I am too. Very very very much." Rufus groaned with his face still sunk into the pillow.

"I'm kind of starving too." Lily ran her fingers up and down his back.

"Is anybody coming down to make some breakfast or not? We are starving down here." Eric called from the foot of the stairs.

"Speaking of starving, huh?" Rufus lifted his face up and looked at Lily.

"Jesus! I'm coming Eric." Rufus screamed. This was not going to be a good day, judging from its start. Lily breastfed Angelica and took care of her for the entire morning. Rufus was now wondering why they didn't hire a nanny yet. Around lunch time, Rufus and Lily were finally home alone. Rufus couldn't let that chance slip out of his hands and immediately called Lily downstairs. "So Angelica is asleep." He started to say looking at her walking down the stairs. " Eric and Jenny are out." He said taking a few steps closer to her. "We have the whole house for ourselves what do you say we do?" Lily literally threw herself at him without saying a word. Rufus wrapped his arms around her waist and they began kissing eating each other's face thats how violent their kissing was. "I was thinking the same thing." Rufus pulled away and trying not to hurt her as he pushed her against the wall of the stairs. They heard the sound of the elevator opening and a second later Serena entered the apartment "Hello!".

"Serena!" Lily and Rufus parted right away "What a lovely surprise!" She faked a big smile and hugged her daughter.

"Hi!" She hugged her mother. "I wanted to take you and Angelica out for lunch, what do you say?"

"Well….I don't know." Rufus rolled his eyes. "Angelica is sleeping right now." Lily found the perfect excuse.

"I can wait." Serena grinned and went to sit on the couch.

"I cannot." Rufus mumbled trying to cover what he said with a cough.

"Excuse me?" Serena asked a little surprised by Rufus' behavior.

"Nothing, I was just coughing." He smiled at her.

"Ok. So go get ready and when Angelica wakes up, we can go."

"Ok." Lily nodded and looked towards Rufus, who was trying his best not to swear at her or Serena.

Lily came back home three hours later but Rufus was not home. Lily spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with Bruce, from Bass Industries, talking about business. Rufus came back home around dinner time along with Dan. He didn't look once at Lily who was sitting at her desk in the living room. She noticed Rufus was kind of mad and walked towards him, wrapping her arms around his chest from behind. "Was that lunch really necessary?" Rufus asked turning around and wrapping his arms around her shoulders as well.

"I couldn't say no to her. She was so eager to go have lunch with me and her sister." Lily didn't want to let Serena down even if it meant to upset Rufus a little bit.

"And I was eager too to f…"

"Rufus!" Lily cut him off before he could go any further.

" I'm sorry…It's just that I can't take this anymore." Rufus apologised.

"It's not my fault." Lily pouted.

"I feel like crying." Rufus sighed resting his head against Lily's forehead.

"Tonight. I promise. No interruptions, no nothing." Lily kissed him quickly.

"Let's hope so." Rufus kissed her lips biting the lower one a little.

They decided to have some pizza for dinner, so to speed up the following cleaning up phase. Lily put Angelica to bed, which seemed to take longer than usual that night. "You're already in bed I see." Rufus smirked at Lily opening the door of their bedroom after he walked Dan to the elevator. "Give me 5min for a quick shower." He winked at her.

"Ok." Lily smiled at him resting her head on the pillow. When Rufus came out of the bathroom, with no clothes on, he found Lily sleeping peacefully. She clearly passed out while he was taking the shower. As much as he wanted to shout and wake her up, he preferred to put some clothes on and go to sleep as well. Lily looked tired enough, waking her up would have meant pure sadism from him. Rufus laid down next to her then and fell asleep shortly after. They would find the right time sooner or later he kept repeating to himself. "Good morning." Rufus smiled up at Lily while she was coming downstairs.

"Morning."Lily smiled big at him and Angelica, who was giggling at Rufus on the couch. "I fell asleep, didn't I?" Lily kissed Rufus on the cheek and then tickled her daughter's tummy with her fingers.

"Yes." Rufus nodded.

"I'm sorry. This little one is taking all the strength out of me." Lily pouted sitting on Rufus' lap.

"I wish I was her." Rufus laughed.

"Rufus." Lily wrapped an arm around his shoulder and gently brought his head against her chest, letting it rest on it while she was tangling her fingers in his hair gently. "I'm sorry." She kissed the top of his head.

"Hey, you were tired. I get it. You are not sleeping very much, you deserved some rest." Rufus lifted is face up and grinned at her. "Do you realise we…"

"I do." Lily sighed closing her eyes.

"Let's go out on a date. You and I alone." Rufus proposed excited.

"What about the baby?" Lily nodded towards Angelica.

"We will call a babysitter or something."

"No. I don't want to leave her with a stranger." Lily shook her head and took Angelica into her arms.

"Ok, we'll have Eric and Jenny look after her then." Rufus kissed Angelica's forehead.

"Eric and Jenny? They can't even look after themselves Rufus!" Lily laughed histerically.

"What about Serena?"

"Serena Van Der Woodsen? My daughter? Do you think she will look after her baby sister on a Friday night?"

"I'll call Dan. He knows how to take care of a baby and he's reliable." Rufus was really trying to make it work somehow.

"I need to breastfeed Angelica every 3hours Rufus." Lily recalled.

"Can't he give her a bottle of your milk?"

"I still prefer feeding her myself." Lily kissed her daughter.

"I'm trying to be patient Lily, I really am, but you're not making it easy for me." Lily was irritating him now.

"I know, you're right. I will pump and prepare bottles for her." Lily brought Angelica closer to her and got up to go breastfeed her.

"Thank you!" Rufus took her hand and kissed the top of it. Lily grinned down at him and left the room.

Later that day Lily started to get ready for her special night with her husband. She wanted to look more beautiful than she ever did before for him, she owed it to him anyways. Rufus took Angelica and all her stuff to the loft, he was planning on having the house all to themselves, for the second part of the evening. Lily in the meantime had a makeup artist and a hairdresser helping her get ready at the penthouse. When Rufus came back home to pick her up, he found her waiting for him at the top of the stairs, radiant in a black silk Lanvin gown. Rufus was speechless as he saw her making her way down the stairs. The look on his face was priceless, his mouth dropped open, his eyes were looking up and down her figure. Rufus almost forgot how beautiful his wife was, after the pregnancy and the birth of Angelica, Lily was not spending that much time taking care of her outer appearance. Lily smiled at him, holding her silver Ferragamo clutch tight in her hands. Rufus swallowed hard when Lily took his hand interlacing her fingers with his. "Good evening." Lily was basically smiling with her eyes at him. Rufus sighed and caressed Lily's long straight hair, which was softly falling on her shoulders and simply said "Good evening to you my love.". Lily leaned forward and brushed her lips against his. Rufus wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Maybe we should just stay home." Lily moaned against his lips.

"Nope. I made reservations Mrs. Humphrey." Rufus pulled away and guided her out of the apartment.

"Reservations? What is it? A special evening perhaps Mr. Humphrey?" Lily asked seductively pushing him against the wall of the elevator. Rufus instinctively took Lily's face in his hands and kissed her. Lily's arms were moving up and down his chest, recklessly. Rufus deepened the kiss and turned the two of them around, pressing his wife against the wall now. He stroked Lily's thigh and lifted her leg up, wrapping it around his hips. Their breathing was suddenly becoming heavier. Lily broke the kiss and looked at him. "I didn't make just reservations. You have a limo waiting for you outside."Rufus licked his lips.

Lily smiled and purred into his ear "What happens if we never get to the limo?"

"Lily…we can't." Rufus shook his head with resolution.

"Oh, you were a little bit more fearless and wild back in the past." Lily pushed a circular red button and the elevator immediately stopped.

"What are you doing?" Rufus was in a complete state of shock.

"What do you say?" Lily took his jacket off and tossed it to the floor.

"Are you serious?" Rufus mouth dropped open as Lily moved her hands to his pants, undoing the button.

"Looks like someone forgot who he's married to." Lily kissed his neck and then let her tongue move up and down his skin.

"Hell no!" Rufus moaned pushing his pants down.

"Any complaints Humphrey?" Lily kissed his jaw and started to unbutton his shirt.

"No. But I gotta warn you, they have cameras in here." Rufus ran his hands over her thighs pushing her gown up to her hips.

"All the more fun." Lily tossed his shirt to the floor as well. "Now that I think about it, we've never taped each other. It could be fun watching the tape later." She whispered in his ear before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Jeez! Lil…" Rufus crushed his lips against hers. "You are…." He tried to talk without breaking contact with her.

"What?" Lily pulled away and bit her lip. She didn't know if she was more eager to know the answer to her question or to move right into action.

"What I always dreamed about and more." Rufus moaned moving his lips to the skin of her neck, while his hands were slowly taking her lace underwear off. Lily's clutch fell out of her hand and hit the floor with a thud.

"Stop talking Rufus. Save your breath." Lily lost her breath for a moment as she felt Rufus' hands brushing against her most intimate area, above the material of her panties. She put her legs back down and kicked it off. It took her less than a second to grasp Rufus' boxers waistband and pull them down. Lily hopped back into Rufus arms, wrapping her legs around him again. Rufus rowdily pushed her against the wall again and kept her up using his hands.

"What my baby wants, my baby gets." Rufus' eyes darkened with desire, before penetrating her in one single, forceful, abrupt movement. He knew his wife's body by heart, he surely didn't need more than one shot to find his way into her.

"Oooh." Lily pouted in soreness throwing her head back against the wall.

"God! I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you Lil." Rufus apologized gently pulling himself out of her.

"Don't worry!" Lily wrapped her hand around it to prevent him from moving any further. "It has been a long time since….you know." She tried to catch her breath. "Don't stop Rufus. Don't you dare." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders more tightly and started to move her hips up and down on him. Rufus didn't need Lily to repeat it twice. He rapidly started to rock his hips against hers, placing his hands on her butt to help guide himself into her more firmly. Lily's eyes disclosed and lowered on her husband, He looked up at her and in a second their moans of pleasure were covered by their kisses. Lily tangled her fingers in his hair thinking how much she missed that familiar sensation, the feeling of having him inside of her, the impression of being two souls in one single body. Rufus quickened the pace as he felt Lily body shivering in pleasure in his hands. "Gosh Rufus!" Lily moaned against his lips. "Lil…" He broke the kiss and locked eyes with her, stopping his thrusts for a moment, too amazed by the lust in her eyes and the pounding of their chests against each other. Lily took a deep breath, placed her elbows on Rufus sweaty shoulders and lifted herself up a little bit before she sunk hastily down on him. "Fuck!" escaped Rufus lips before he placed his hand on the back of Lily's head and violently pulled her face against his, letting their tongues intertwine with one another. Rufus' thrusts sped up, forcing Lily to part their lips in order to breathe again. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Rufus moving inside of her. "Rufus, I don't know if I can hold on anymore." She sighed as Rufus started to kiss the side of her neck, sucking hard at it. Rufus moaned in agreement, still glued to her neck. He kept on pushing hard up on her, Lily dug her nails into his shoulder, swearing loudly. It was as wild and violent as it was supposed to be after all that waiting. Lily was almost crying for the pain and the pleasure Rufus was giving her at the very same time. He pulled himself out of her, Lily gasped, and he entered her again with more fury than before. Lily rolled her eyes back and screamed his name out loud. Rufus was reaching all the right spots in one single move, his pushes were too vigorous not to hit all of them. Rufus moaned loud as he felt he was close, his mouth still on Lily's neck while his left hand was massaging her breast from on top of her silk dress. Lily felt a wave of pleasure rush throughout her body and up her spine and cried "Jesus! Rufus thank you!". Her husband reachedhis peek right away and a vortex of moans and "Oh my God" came out of his mouth.

"Rufus" Lily breathed leaning down to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Hmm?" Rufus moaned kissing her neck again.

"Nothing feels as good as having you inside of me." She purred in his ear.

"Thank you for letting me in again." Rufus whispered in her ear and then slowly slipped out of her again.

Lily let him put her on the ground and cupped his face with her hands kissing him. "That." She kissed him. "Was" He deepened the kiss. "Incredible." Lily finally ended the sentence when Rufus broke the kiss.

He grinned satisfied at her and searched for their pieces of clothes on the elevator's floor. Lily grinned at him as he handed her, her panties. After they were fully dressed again, Rufus pushed the red button back and the elevator started moving again. Lily leaned down and picked up her clutch from the floor, as she did so Rufus couldn't help but slap her ass forcefully. Lily laughed and turned around to look at him "What was that for?" She asked bemused.

"For being such a bad girl." Rufus ran his hand through her hair grabbed a fistful and pulled her closer to him, kissing her deeply. Lily moaned in his mouth wrapping her arm around his shoulder. As they noticed the elevator was about to open Rufus broke the kiss and took her hand, interlacing their fingers. Lily looked down at their hands and smirked at him. "I don't know if I can take you to that fancy restaurant I made reservations at. You look so messy Mrs. Humphrey!" Lily laughed and walked with him out of the elevator, holding his hand tightly. They said their goodbyes to Vanya and hopped into their limo. Rufus took two glasses on the side of the limo and filled one with champagne and the other one with soda for his wife, no alcohol allowed during breastfeeding. Lily laid her back against the seat and took a sip of her drink as Rufus handed it to her. "Hey, we were supposed to make a toast." He stated a little disappointed.

"I was too thirsty. Sorry." Lily gently laughed. Rufus pouted and drank the champagne too. "You organised the perfect date Rufus." Lily smiled at him before resting her head on his shoulder.

"I wanted to act romantic for once." Rufus smirked.

"Romantic? You just proved how romantic you can be in the elevator." Lily burst into a loud laughter.

"Are you complaining? It was 2 months Lil, I couldn't control myself." Rufus groaned.

"God only knows how grateful I am for that." Lily kissed his cheek. "And maybe the security guys knows too by now." Lily laughed again. Rufus almost chocked while drinking his champagne as she said so.

"Let's hope they haven't seen too much of my wife." He stated annoyed just at the thought of sharing that vision of Lily with anyone.

"I don't care." Lily turned his face around and kissed him gently.

"Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey there's a lot of traffic tonight in Manhattan, I think it will take a little longer than said to get to your destination." They heard a voice coming from the interphone.

"Thank you Roger." Lily answered politely. "Just tell us when we get there by interphone, we'll enjoy the ride with some music." Lily's eyes darkened suddenly.

"Of course ma'am." Lily took the remote and put some music on, turning the volume very high. Then rolled the partition up.

"It's Friday night, in the City, obviously we'll get to the restaurant late. I should call to tell them we're running late." Rufus sighed, then all of a sudden he felt Lily moving closer to him she sat on his lap, laying her back against his chest and her head on his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Rufus asked astonished as he saw Lily spreading her legs and felt her ass brushing against his hips, from side to side. Lily moved herself up a little and lifted her gown up, moved it up, from her shoulder and over head and tossed it to the floor. Rufus was at a loss of words at the sight of Lily basically naked in front of him, he could only see her back as she sit down back on his lap. Lily took Rufus' hand and slowly placed it on her chest and all the way down to her stomach and into her lace underwear finally. Rufus gasped as he came in contact with her wetness. "What has gotten into you tonight Lil?" Rufus murmured into her ear before he started to kiss her neck.

Lily disclosed her legs and moaned "I think you is the correct answer". Then she positioned her back against his chest again and rested her head on his shoulder. Rufus took her face with his free hand and turned it around, giving their lips the chance to meet again. Lily sighed in his mouth as she felt a shiver of pleasure running down her body at the touch of Rufus' fingers. He brought his hand to her breast and massaged it, while his other hand rubbed her clit. Lily broke the kiss and tried to catch a breath. It was time to take things to the next level, she could not let him get away with some petting. Rufus smiled big at her as Lily got off his lap and started to take his pants off. "First the elevator, now the limo…you'll be the death of me." Rufus grinned happily shaking his head. Lily took his pants and his boxers off, with Rufus' help. Then moved her hands to her underwear and tossed it to the limo's floor as well. Rufus took his jacket and his shirt off too. She got on her knees and let her hands run all the way up Rufus' thighs, then leaned down and before taking his erection into her mouth, she looked up at Rufus and moaned "I just can't have enough tonight." Rufus rolled his eyes back at the contact of Lily's tongue around him. He was the one who could never have enough of it now. Lily was getting aroused at every passing second, everything about Rufus that night tasted or felt too good to be true. Rufus tangled his fingers in her hair pushing her head down even more. Lily moaned and kept moving her mouth around him, back and forth. "God, Lil…." Rufus' hips instantly pushed up to her, Lily brought them down and kept on pleasuring him. It didn't take long for Rufus to come and Lily generously obliged to take in all he had to offer. "I want to kill you now for denying me all of this in the last months." Rufus sighed taking her into his arms.

"I know what you mean." Lily laughed and drank her soda.

"I'm not saying it because of what you just did to me, but I love you so much!" Rufus leaned down and kissed her. Lily deepened the kiss and wrapped her hands around his neck. Rufus broke the kiss and laid her on her back on his lap. Lily felt his bulb against her shoulder and smiled. "What…" Lily was cut off by the cold liquid Rufus poured on her chest and stomach. "Oh God." Lily moaned as Rufus leaned down and licked all the champagne off of her, lingering on the breast zone. "Rufus" she moaned as she felt his mouth enfolded around her left breast sucking her skin. Lily took Rufus hand and moved it to her frontal region begging him to finish what she interrupted before. Rufus obeyed and slipped two fingers into her. Lily trailed her fingers into his hair and closed her eyes. Rufus' touch had always been kind of magical to her. Rufus kissed her stomach and stopped only to take a look at her scar. Lily closed her eyes, scared that the mark was turning him off now. Rufus turned his face to her, smiled and then kissed her mark sweetly. "Nothing could ever make you look less beautiful to my eyes Lil, always remember that." Lily grinned at him and nodded.

"I guess it's time to have some fun in union, there's something behind my shoulders that is asking desperately for it." Lily smirked seductively at Rufus. "Oh really?"

"Yes babe." Lily sat back on the seat and took Rufus face into her hands, kissing him passionately.

"You taste like champagne." Lily moaned against his lips.

"You still taste like me….and this is all contributory to my arousal." Rufus broke the kiss.

"Speaking of which….are you going to do anything about mine?" Lily raised an eyebrow and licked her lips.

"My old Lily is back. I missed her." Rufus whispered slowly moving his hands on her sides.

"She missed it….I mean she missed you too." Lily joked before pulling him in for a kiss again. Rufus' hands kept on moving up and down her side, then with all the strength he had, he placed them on her hips and lifted lily up, trying not to smack her head against the limo's roof. Lily helped him positioning herself on him and they both exhaled an "Oh my God" as they felt their bodies collide again. Lily leaned back and rested her head on Rufus chest while he was already thrusting into her wrapping one arm around her waist to give her support. This time their lovemaking was slower and less wild than before, they wanted to enjoy every single moment of it and embed it in their memories. Lily was just giving in to Rufus, letting him lead the way. As his thrusts became faster and firmer Lily felt her strength leaving her body to make space for all the pleasure Rufus was giving her. His hands moving up and down her body, his sticky chest pounding against her back, his cologne filling the air she was breathing and his mouth, his juicy lips kissing her shoulder, sucking her skin. Lily moaned his name multiple times as his hands were slowly moving around her breast, massaging them. "Rufus…" She moaned as he sped up his pace. "What?" He mumbled kissing the side of her neck. "More…please more." Lily sighed as she felt a wave of pleasure running through her body. Rufus pushed harder inside of her and that made them lose their balance and Lily fall off Rufus' laps and hit the ground, while Rufus was still inside of her. "Jeez! I'm sorry Lil." Rufus pulled out of her and turned her around, on her back, now they were face to face. Lily laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I am so not." Lily leaned forward and kissed his neck. "Where were we?" She purred in his ear.

"Right about here." Rufus entered her again making them both scream in pleasure. "Lily….God, you feel so good, it feels so good." Rufus moaned before kissing her lips. Lily deepened the kiss and wrapped her legs around his waist, giving herself the chance to feel even greater than she was feeling before. "Rufus. You are a God or something very close to it." Lily tried to catch her breath, talking in that moment was one hell of a difficult action. Rufus lowered his eyes on her lips and kissed her hungrily, running his fingers through her hair. At each and every thrust Rufus felt his pleasure increasing. Being wrapped in Lily's body, that warmth around it, the feeling of their bodies sashaying together, the touch of Lily's hands on his body made everything ever more memorable. Lily's hands were moving up and down his back, as Rufus was thrusting into her, even more strongly, even faster, every thrust felt even better than the one before. Rufus explored Lily's mouth some more before moving to her chest and taking her right breast into his mouth. Lily arched into him and moaned loudly "Yes…Rufus….Oh dear Lord!". Rufus grinned proudly against her skin and then went back to work on them with his tongue. When he felt he was close he decided to give Lily the same pleasure he was about to have. He placed one hand on her hip and with the other rubbed her clit. Lily rolled her eyes back and instinctively moved her hips against his. Rufus leaned down and kissed her lips, in a blaze of passion. Lily parted her lips and let his tongue tangle with hers. She broke the kiss seconds later to scream his name out loud, just his name as he was her God in that moment, reaching her peek had never felt more good to her. Rufus swore at the very same time, as he came, and rested his forehead against hers trying to catch a breath. "I am completely shocked. How do you do this to me?" Rufus' breath was not calming down.

"How do you do this to me?" Lily's chest was pounding against his, they were both covered with sweat. "Can I say it was even better than the elevator moment?" Rufus took a deep breath.

"It was simply amazing." Lily quickly kissed his lips and let her legs fall to the floor, out of strength. Rufus got off of her and sat back on the seat giving her his hand to help her up. "I don't want to get up, I don't

know If I'll ever be able to walk again." She mumbled pushing away his hand. Rufus laughed and picked her up with his arms.

"I lost my appetite." Lily sighed looking at him.

"And here I was dreaming about round 3." He laughed brushing some hair out of her eyes.

"Oh God, no! Please! I was talking about food. I could never lose my appetite when it comes to you, not after tonight anyway."

Rufus kissed her gently. "What would you say If I cancelled those reservations and we just go have some Chinese or a burger to eat here?" Rufus licked his lips.

"I would say: marry me!" Lily leaned forward and kissed him, passionately, tangling her fingers in his hair.

"I think I already married you." Rufus broke the kiss.

"Yeah, I know, but tonight I would marry you again and again and again." Lily kissed his jaw, all the way to his lips.

"Are you using the verb marry just to cover some other word up?" Rufus nuzzled his nose against her.

"Perhaps." Lily brushed her lips against his.

"I love you, so much Lil." Rufus stroked her cheek and looked into her beautiful hazel eyes, realising how much in love with her he still was after all those years.

"I love you too. You mean the world to me, you are my everything Rufus. Just try to remember that next time you'll think I might be having problems with you." They locked eyes and kissed some more. Then Lily took her gown and her panties from the ground and put them on again.

"You know what? You should leave bras in the drawer more often." Rufus kissed her shoulder and then grabbed his clothes too.

"If these are the results, I think I'm gonna do that more often." Lily smirked at him.

"I'm just getting dressed again, I won't even make the effort to lift them up from the floor if you are willing to toss them off in a bit." Rufus ran his fingers over her arm in a very seductive way.

"Easy Humphrey. I need to breathe a little before we get back on track." Lily took his hand and kissed it.

"Me too, I was just joking." Rufus smiled and started to get dressed in the uncomfortably small space of that limo.

"You are not allowed to make jokes about sex after two months of that torture." Lily warned him frowning.

"You are very bossy tonight." Rufus smirked zipping his pants up.

"See? You are just asking me to get you undressed again." Lily moved closer to him and placed one hand on his frontal region again.

"Ok, let's call a truce. We'll eat something first and then we'll go right back to where we left off." Rufus took her hand into his and placed it on her thigh.

"Hurry up with the food then, because I'm starving….if you catch my drift." Lily wrapped her fingers around his neck and brushed her lips against his skin.

"You are so worth the wait!" Rufus groaned enjoying the soft touch of her lips. Lily grinned and kissed him once again, on the lips this time. "I better call the restaurant." He sighed and took his cell phone out from his pocket. He called the restaurant and cancelled his reservation, then handed it to Lily who wanted to check how Dan and Angelica were doing. After she made sure everything was perfectly okay, she agreed to go grab something to eat. In the end, it was Rufus who physically went to grab some Chinese, with Lily waited in the car for him. As he got back Lily asked "Did you remember the eggrolls?

"Yes, I remember exactly that particular night in which you forced me to go buy you some because you were craving them and then you didn't even eat one when I came back home." Rufus laughed sarcastically.

"Blame it on Angelica, not me." Lily took the bag from his hands and searched for the eggrolls in it.

"You are shameless." Rufus shook his head laughing.

"And you only realised that now?" Lily joked and then quickly kissed him on the lips. They ate their dinner, feeding each other as if they were 20 years old again. Shortly after Dan called, he was having a problem with putting Angelica to sleep so they decided to head to the loft and take care of the baby themselves. Rufus didn't want Dan to see the messy look Lily had on, so he left his wife waiting into the car for him. Once they got back home, it didn't take Rufus and Lily long to put Angelica to sleep, contrary to Dan. "She just needed her mommy and her daddy to put her to sleep." Rufus smiled at his daughter peacefully sleeping in her crib, whilst rubbing Lily's back.

"Yes, I think you're right." Lily smiled big and turned around wrapping Rufus' arms around her hips. "Why don't you put me to sleep?"

"To sleep?" Rufus glared.

"I correct myself: to bed." Lily laugh lightly.

"We had sex in a limo and into the elevator, all in one night, and now you want to do it in bed? You're disappointing me. Where did the wild and crazy Lily go?" Rufus was trying with all his strength not to laugh right to her face.

"Ok, you do have a point. I'll let you be the man, you choose." Lily shot back getting the sarcasm in his previous sentence.

"Thank you, too kind!" Lily smiled at him nonethless. "I'd go for the bathtub."

"The bathtub? Uhm…." Lily pretended to think about it.

"What did you have in mind?" Rufus rolled his eyes.

"That I don't care where we make love, the only thing I care about is that i'm doing it with you." Lily grinned at him and then lifted herself up on her toes to kiss him.

"You're so cute!" Rufus smiled against her lips.

"Excuse me? Cute?" Lily broke the kiss and narrowed her eyes at him. "That's how you plan to get into a woman's pants?"

"Technically I got into yours a very long time ago, but…"

"Very funny." Lily stated and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Rufus called after her.

"To take a bath." Lily marched toward the bathroom swaying her hips.

"Oh, I need a bath too, I feel dirty all of a sudden." Rufus ran after her and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"And I did nothing…yet." Lily turned around and kissed him fiercely.

"Gosh! I love you so much!" He took her into his arms and picked her up. Lily kissed him again as he walked them into the bathroom. That night was theirs and theirs only. Nothing could have ruined it. They never left each other's side during the last months, they were there, always together, but only now they felt like they were there for each other again. Lily felt stupid for letting those stupid thoughts keep her away from Rufus, of course he would understand, he was Rufus, the love of her life and no one knew her or accepted her for who she truly was more than him. Rufus was just happy to be able to have his wife completely back. It was not the feeling of having sex or giving each other pleasure that made them feel this way, it was more about feeling at home in each other's arms, like they belonged there. It was more about giving themselves to the other, putting the other one first. It was more about proving to each other they had to live of each other's breath, because it was oxygen, because it was life to them. As they made love again that night, as fireworks were heating up their bodies, the only thought in Rufus and Lily's mind was how much they meant to each other and how much they could not live without the other one. Their hands, their shivers, their moans, their sighs were all the clear proof they needed to be Rufus and Lily together, to truly be themselves. In that moment they realised that there was nothing keeping them apart. Their bodies smashed against each other all night long, until they both passed out, holding each other, never wanting to leave that embrace. The morning after Lily got up first, she had to breastfeed Angelica and didn't want Rufus to wake up, he needed to get all his energy back after the hell of a night they had. After nurturing Angelica, Lily placed her next to Rufus in their bed and headed downstairs to have breakfast, she was literally starving. "Oh, good morning everyone!" She grinned happily at Eric, Jenny and Serena who were just having breakfast at the table.

"Morning." Jenny mumbled with her mouth full.

"Good morning mom." Eric greeted her before taking a sip of his juice.

"Hey, I see you are in a good mood." Serena smirked at her. "And I think I know why."

"What are you talking about?" Lily acted a little surprised, even if it was written all over her face she had a particular fun night, the night before.

"The California's size mark you have on your neck." Serena laughed, spilling some coffee on the table.

"Oh." Lily covered her mouth with her hand, blushing a little.

"I'm happy you two worked things out." Serena smiled at her before starting to laugh again.

"Me too." Lily had the biggest smile on her face.

"Oh Jenny, are you sure your last name is not Cullen?" Eric pointed his mother's neck in amusement.

"Oh God!" Jenny almost chocked.

"Stop acting like that!" Lily walked behind the island and poured herself some coffee.

"You could have covered it." Jenny snapped pushing away her plate with her muffin, instantly not feeling hungry anymore.

"Well when you're proud of something you show it to the world." Lily winked at her, teasing their kids had never been more delightful.

"Gross." Jenny stated with a disgusted face.

"Good Morning everyone." Rufus cried happily walking down the stairs with Angelica in his arms.

"Morning Edward." Jenny and Eric mumbled in unison making Serena laugh hard.

"What?" Rufus was not getting why they called him Edward at all.

"Don't ask." Eric held his hand up at him.

"Look who just came down! The most beautiful baby girl on Earth!" Lily kissed Angelica as Rufus reached her behind the island, and took her into his arms.

"Morning." Rufus licked his lips and kissed her hungrily.

"Good morning to you." Lily pulled away and smirked at him.

"Slept well?" Asked Rufus taking a sip of coffee from her mug.

"What do you think?" Lily let her hand move up and down his chest, locking eyes with her husband.

"Please! You have an underage person here." Jenny cried pointing to her baby sister who was just innocently smiling up at her parents.

"Poor Angelica." Eric shook his head and got up. "Come with me little girl." He walked towards his mother and took Angelica with him.

"Ok, you take care of her. Lily and I need to talk." Rufus lustily lowered his eyes on his wife.

"Do we?" Lily wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yes, honey. Upstairs." Rufus gently squeezed her butt.

"Oh right." Lily let a laugh out. "It's gonna be a long talk." She brushed some hair out of his face.

"Do they even remember they have a baby now?" Eric asked turning around to his sister and stepsister.

"Why don't we all go out for a walk in the park?" Serena suggested wisely. They were all really starting to feel a little bit undesirable around there.

"We can take Angelica out?" Jenny questioned Lily thrilled.

"You better." Lily replied feverishly.

"These two are disgusting sister." Eric rocked his little his sister back and forth, shaking his head in disbelief.

Rufus took Lily's hand and guided her upstairs into their bedroom. "Good morning…again." Rufus wrapped his arms around her waist.

"One of the best morning ever, I have a feeling this is going to be a great day." Lily bit his lip.

"You do?" Rufus moved his face closer to hers.

"I do." Lily brushed her lips against his, tangling her hand in his hair.

"Good." Moaned Rufus "I'll make sure of it then."

"You don't need to. I already know I will always have a great day as long as you're by my side." Lily kindly stroked his cheek with her other hand.

"You bet I am. You'll never get rid of me, trust me." Rufus pecked a kiss on her lips.

"I have no intentions to." Lily smiled shaking her head firmly.

"Good to know." Rufus leaned forward and kissed her once more.

"We've been through so much in the last two years, especially with the pregnancy and Angelica. I don't think I thanked you enough." Lily broke the kiss and looked into his beautiful eyes.

"Lily you don't have to thank me. I would do anything for you. Besides we were in that together, that made everything so much easier." Rufus brushed some hair behind her ear.

"We're a good team." Lily smirked.

"That we are." Rufus kissed her cheek.

"I love you…I love you so much words will never express how profound my feelings for you are." Lily was getting very emotional now.

"I love…"

"Wait." She stopped him placing her hand on his chest. "I just want you to know than more than anything else I respect you. I respect you as my husband, I respect you as a man and I respect you as a father. I never experienced this kind of feelings for a man until I married you. I opened a window to another world and you are my window. I look at things differently since we are together." Lily had tears in her eyes.

"Well I don't need to look to another world through you Lil, because you are my whole world. I need nothing else, but you in my life. And I love you Lily, always have, always will." Rufus stroked her cheek gently.

"Always have, always will, huh?" Lily grinned so totally lost in love with that man.

"A-l-w-a-y-s and f-o-r e-v-e-r." Rufus spelled softly.

"I like forever, does it start today?" Lily enfolded him in her arms.

"Our forever started the first day our eyes met Lil." Rufus words made Lily share a tear.

"I'm happy Rufus, you make me happy."She hugged him tightly resting her head on his chest. Rufus heart melted, not at the words that were coming out from her mouth, but at the glisten she had in her eyes while saying so. He had no words to show her how much he made him happy, so he let actions speak for himself. He pulled away and cupped her face with his hands, giving their lips the pleasure to meet. It felt like coming back home after a long time every single time they kissed. The static they gave each other, their raising heart beats, the need of fall into each other's arm, never faded. Those emotions were still there, stringer than ever after all those years, after all they had been through. "Take me to bed, now." Lily purred into his ear wrapping her arms around his neck. Rufus picked her up and kidded "I guess we can manage to be in that together too." They both laughed before giving their day just the perfect start. Rufus and Lily went back to what they were, as a couple, as a family, as the missing piece of the puzzle that completed each other's life at last. Happily ever after? They knew, deep in their heart, they were beyond that, they were beyond "until death do us part" and all those clichés. They had their present to live together, they had each other to live, come what may their love would have led their way.

**THE END**


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